Shy, clumsy and beautiful
by sophie.masson.harrypotter
Summary: It's been years since that night Jack Frost saved the world from Pitch Black, with the help of his first believers, Jamie and Sophie. Jack fails to protect one of his first believers, and his sister must find a way to forgive her frosty friend. Before Jack knows it, he finds himself falling in love with Sophie, but will their love endure a visit from an old (not so much) friend?
1. Chapter 1

Sophie rubbed her red fingers together and puffed a little bit of warm air into her palms. The cold wind whipped her blonde, messy, layered hair back from her face, exposing her rosy cheeks and red nose. Her striped, light green hat with a fluffy puff ball on the top kept her ears warm. She wore skinny Levi's and a pale pink sweater under her mint blue, puffy winter coat. I let the snowflakes fall on her long eyelashes, but made sure they didn't catch in her big, emerald-green eyes. Her eyes were the same. Big and innocent and always noticing everything. I hadn't seen her since she was a toddler, but she was at least sixteen now. She was...beautiful. I gulped. I was never nervous around little kids..but..girls my own age? Beautiful ones? I was almost glad she couldn't see me anymore.

I floated beside her, watching her sniffle with the cold. I backed up a little bit. She still looked freezing. "Sophie?" My voice came out shaky, hoarse and anxious. I didn't expect her to hear me. I just...I needed to try.

Suddenly, she froze. I dropped from my floating position and hit the pavement in surprise. She glanced around, spinning. "Hello?"

I scrambled up. "Sophie?"

"Yes? Who's there?" She asked. I could see fear entering her heart. "Where are you?"

"Come on, Soph, believe...just for a second..." I grabbed her shoulders. She shivered violently, but I didn't care. She might see me! She might, actually, see me. Her eyes darted around, then locked on the spot where I was. "Soph?"

"J-j-jack?" She spluttered.

"Sophie! You can see me?"

Sophie's stared at me with her wide, green eyes. She nodded slowly, her breath coming out in white puffs. I grinned crookedly, but no smile crossed her lips. She held out her hand towards my chest, but stopped, like she was afraid she'd go right through me. I glanced at her poised hand, then back into her terrified eyes. I wrapped both of my hands around hers and held her warm palms to my chest for her.

She gasped, then a big grin spread across her face. "You came back?"

"Did you really think I left?"

"We haven't had a snow day since Jamie...you know..." Sophie's eyes fell downcast, but I could see the hot tears collecting on her dark eyelashes.

I gulped. I remembered. Jamie died when he was sixteen, right after he got his driver's license. He was so excited to drive, and it was so icy that day. He wasn't thinking when he sped down that hill, right towards the traffic light. I tried to stop it. I really did. But his brakes didn't work fast enough, and the semi just ran his red light...It all happened so fast. "Sophie...I really tried..."

Sophie searched my eyes, but I didn't know what she was looking for. "I know. It's not your fault. You were just trying to...have fun, right?"

Sophie's words sliced through me, guilt seeping through the cuts. It was my fault. Everything. But I didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to have fun, like she said. I almost wished she were still a forgiving little girl, but I knew she was more complicated now. She didn't show everything she felt like a little kid. I chose my words carefully.

"You know I care more than that."

Sophie nodded and wiped the runny black eye makeup under her eyes away with trembling fingertips. "I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that...of course you didn't want to hurt Jamie."

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a hug I'd been waiting for ever since Jamie died. Sophie's arms were tight around my neck, and she buried her wet face into my chest. She felt perfect in my arms, with her hair tickling the side of my face like soft, lapping waves on cool, dark ice. Her body language told me more than she could say. Sophie's breath was slow, but shaky. She missed me, even though I was responsible for her brother's death. She squeezed her eyes shut and murmured, "Please, please, stay with me."

"I can't, Soph. People can't see me," I said softly.

"Then get me out of here."

I realized that even though I knew Sophie since she was a little girl, she barely knew me. She must have been too young to really remember me, but Jamie probably told her all about me. At least, what he could remember. Pangs of regret hit my heart hard. I wished I could have come back before Jamie's accident. Time felt different now, years felt like days.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes. I hate it. I hate being...grown up," Sophie rested her chin on my shoulder. "It's so much harder than I thought it would be."

I sighed. "I know, Soph." I willed the winter wind to slowly start lifting us off the ground. Sophie clung to me tighter, and her body tensed. I smirked at her fear and whispered reassuringly, "I'm not going to let go."

"You better not," Sophie teased.

I shot up quickly, taking Sophie with me, high above the clouds. She grinned at me, then glanced down at the ground. She gasped, "Oh. We're...high up."

I laughed, "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights."

"Only when the only thing saving me from falling is a flying boy!" Sophie almost fell as she tried to use her hands to talk, even though I couldn't even see what she was doing with her hands behind my head. She yelped, but I dropped my hands to her waist to hold her out at arms length. I cocked a curious eyebrow at her.

Sophie's eyes widened as she stared down at the tiny cars driving by on the little street. She scrambled back to me, holding on to me for dear life. She was behind me now, hanging from my shoulders. I laughed. "Yeah, you're not scared of heights at all, Soph."

"I'm only scared of fall-"

I took off flying before she could finish her sentence. She screamed as she held on tighter to my neck. She felt weightless on my back as I dodged through the clouds. I laughed as she yelped when I jerked away from an airplane.

"Don't tell me you forgot how to have fun, Soph?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, shut up, Frosty."

I grinned at the nickname. The misty vapor would envelope us for a few moments, then we would break through the fluffy clouds to clear sky. Sophie eventually relaxed when she realized I wouldn't let her fall, and I slowed down a little bit.

"Where are we going?" Sophie asked, her voice steady and trusting.

"Honestly? No idea."

"Well, where are we now?"

I turned my head up to face her and said, "No idea."

She smiled. "Three hundred years and you don't know where you are just by the cloud formations? I'm disappointed."

"Watch it, Soph. I could always drop you."

"If you do, I swear I will haunt the crap out of you," Sophie warned. But I saw something in her eyes, something that said she didn't really mind if I dropped her. She'd be with Jamie. I gulped. Then, I'd be responsible for the death of both of my first believers. My smile vanished as I continued to stare ahead. Keep it together, Jack, you can't change anything now.

We continued to fly in silence, and I was starting to think Sophie had fallen asleep. Occasionally she'd shift her legs or something, but other than those small movements I had no way of telling if she was still alive up there. It was possible I'd gone too far up for her to breath anymore. Hopefully, she would kick or yell at me if I did that.

After an hour of dreary, dreamy flying, I heard Sophie gasp.

"What?"

"The...sunset," Sophie sighed. I glanced around at the setting sun. I was so used to seeing the extraordinary beauty of the sunset, I didn't think much of it anymore. The sky was a bright pink, which faded to a light orange towards the sun. The clouds looked purple with the reflections off the sun, but were bright pink on the bottom. Sophie stared, transfixed, on the sight before her. "It's...amazing."

"Yeah...I guess it is," I murmured.

Sophie rested her head on my shoulder, still staring in awe at the setting sun. I smiled to myself at her easy distraction. I felt her mouth open and close again like she was yawning. I drew my hands up to hers and made sure they were firmly resting on my shoulders, and then swooped down on the snowy ground next to a small pond. Sophie's fuzzy, light brown, short suede boots with little buttons on the side graced the ground gently as she released her arms from my shoulders. She swayed on the spot tiredly. I suddenly remembered trying to put her to bed when she was just a little girl, and how she wouldn't let go of me. A smile tugged at the side of my mouth.

"Tired?"

Sophie nodded, her hair falling in front of her face. She leaned against a tree trunk, slowly sliding down. She suddenly slipped on a bit of ice and fell on her butt on the snowbank. "Ow!"

I chuckled, "So you're still a bit clumsy, Soph?"

She rolled her sleepy eyes at me. "No, I'm as graceful as a ballerina."

"Hey, I think it's sort of cute," I said as I held up my hands in surrender.

Sophie's eyebrows furrowed as she muttered, "I don't. It's not like I'm gonna get a ton of dudes chasing after me because I tripped on their shoes."

I plopped down next to her, glancing over in her emerald eyes as I lay my staff across my knees. "I wouldn't care about that if I were you."

Sophie laughed, "If you were me, you'd care a hell of a lot about that."

I smirked, "Well, you've always got me."

Sophie cocked an eyebrow at me in surprise. "What do you mean?"

I blushed in embarrassment, and I don't do that easily. "Y'know...I'm always here if you want to talk."

"Oh," Sophie said, almost sounding disappointed.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Are you cold? Do you want me to make a fire?"

Sophie shot me a weird look and asked, "Is that even possible? Won't you...melt?"

"Melt? You're joking, right?" I laughed.

Sophie giggled, "Hey, you're Jack Frost! You might be made of snow for all I know!"

I sighed as I shook my head.

"I'm okay, by the way. Don't worry about it," Sophie said as she curled up in her snowbank, her knitted, polka dot mittens tucked under her head like a little pillow. She glanced up at me, "I'm not a bomb, Frosty. You can move a little closer."

I eyed her up and down cautiously, then curled up beside her. She stared deeply into my bright blue eyes, and I gazed back in her electric green ones. The corner of her mouth tugged up in a shy smile as she whispered, "Thanks, Jack. Flying's pretty awesome."

I grinned cheekily. "Well, I'm glad you think so. You're welcome."

Sophie's heavy eyelids drooped shut, just as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. She let out a final sigh of content sleepiness, and relaxed into a deep sleep with her right mitten stretched out just far enough for me to wrap my pale hand around it. I almost did so, too, but the memory of Jamie dead and lifeless and bloody in that broken car stopped me. I watched her for a little while, just the way her hair swept over her eyes and into the snow and how her mouth formed a little "o" as she slept. Eventually, even my bones began to feel weary, and before I knew it, I was sleeping, too.

**Thank you so much for reading! I would** really** appreciate any reviews or thoughts you have about the story.:) **


	2. Chapter 2

My eyelids fluttered open. I felt a heavy weight on my chest, to find that a mess of blonde hair lay on my chest. Somehow, during the night, Sophie had curled into me. My right hand rested protectively on her back, like I'd gently pushed her closer. My staff lay in the snow beside me. For a moment, I didn't know what to do in the new position. But...I liked the feel of her soft, warm breathing coming out in little puffs on my frosty sweatshirt. If Sandy was behind this...

Sophie made a soft groaning noise. My whole body tensed, and my hand froze at her back, like somehow she wouldn't notice she was on top of me if I didn't move. Should I pretend to be asleep? My eyes squeezed shut, and I felt her lift her head off of me. The snow crunched with her movement. She sat up beside me, and then I heard more snow crunching as she stood. She appeared to be pacing, like she was trying to decide something. I decided now would be a safe time to open my eyes.

I did my best to look groggy and surprised she was awake when I "woke up." I sat up and leaned against the tree, tucking my one of my legs up to rest my arm on and leaving the other sticking out in the snow. Sophie stared at the pond, which was now covered in a pretty, delicate frost pattern of ice that wasn't there before. "Was that you?"

I shrugged, "It sort of just happens around me, Soph."

"Well, for 'sort of just happening,' it's pretty impressive," Sophie said in awe.

I floated up and leaned on my staff and asked, "Whatcha wanna do?"

"I don't know, Jack! Where even are we?"

I spun around my staff, a desperate attempt to keep busy. What was with grown people and questions? "Uh, Alaska, I think."

"If we kept flying for a little longer, we might have ended up at the North Pole," Sophie joked. "Hey, is North still up there?"

I nodded, "Yep, 364 days a year. Sounds pretty boring to me, really."

"To you, yeah. To normal people, Santa's workshop, yeti's and elves aren't exactly ordinary," Sophie teased.

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her. "Whatever, Soph."

A big grin spread across Sophie's face. I gave her a confused look. "What?"

Sophie jerked her eyebrows up and nodded her head behind me. Bunnymund stood behind me, with a big hole next to him. I had to stop myself from being mad he was going to take Sophie away. Of course, he wasn't really going to take her away, but jealousy did twist my stomach into tight knots.

"Hello, Mund," I said through gritted teeth.

He gave me a confused look, then ran up and wrapped Sophie in a big bear hug. Sophie laughed loudly, and I burned green with envy. I was the one who should be making her laugh like that. I wanted to make her laugh like that.

"I missed you!" Sophie exclaimed happily. I thought of Sophie and I's reunion. It wasn't exactly as joyful and her reunion with the Easter Kangaroo. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from saying some obnoxious remark about Bunnymund.

Bunnymund gave her a once over as he pulled out of the hug. "You're not exactly an ankle-biter anymore, are you, Soph?"

"Nope," Sophie agreed with a smile, but I could see past it. She still wished she was an ankle-biter. My stomach twisted in sharp knots again, but I couldn't figure out why.

"Jeez, Frost. This girl's about as cold as you are. Ever heard of a blanket?" Bunnymund joked as he rubbed Sophie's shoulders feverishly.

"I'm a bit chilly myself, Mund. I can't exactly tell," I said as I leaned forward on my staff.

Sophie shook her head, "I'm fine, really-"

"No, we've got to get you somewhere warm before you turn into a human popsicle," Bunnymund stated firmly. Sophie opened her mouth to protest, or maybe defend me, but she must have known that once Mund wanted something, he was going to get it. She glanced over at me, an apologetic smile on her lips.

"Can Jack come?"

Mund froze, and spun around to face us. "Am I missing something?"

"What?" Sophie and I asked simultaneously. We exchanged glances. Luckily, she looked as nervous as I did. She quickly glanced back at Mund and played with the ends of her hair.

"No, of course not," She said softly. "I just...miss all of you."

The way she looked over at me when she said "you" made my heart beat faster. Me? I started floating off the ground a little bit without realizing it. I noticed and quickly shot back down on the ground, my cheeks burning again. Sophie smiled but looked away from me.

Bunnymund cleared his throat awkwardly and twitched his nose. "We could go see North. He's the closest...and I'm sure he has plenty of hot chocolate and cookies."

I furrowed my eyebrows at Mund. "North's not usually...fond of...company."

"Hey, he knows Sophie." Mund said as he shrugged. "Soph...you're gonna have to fly with Jack. Unless you want to run down a tunnel..."

Sophie shook her head violently. "No, that's okay, I can fly with Jack..thanks, Mund."

Mund gave me a funny look, then jumped down his rabbit hole. I turned around so Sophie could jump on my back. She did so, resting her chin on my shoulder as she said, "Ready."

**OKAY SO I LOVE ALL OF YOU THAT REVIEWED AND THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU GUYS ARE SO SWEET! And thank you to all the people who followed/favorited, too! I'll try to keep these chapters coming:)**


	3. Chapter 3

I shot up off the ground, spinning around like a corkscrew as I soared through the air. Sophie let out a surprised scream, and then an excited laugh. I stopped swirling once we got higher than the clouds, then straightened out. Sophie's legs wrapped around my chest as she sat up. "How do you ever get used to this?"

I turned my head to grin crookedly up at her. Her eyes searched my smile, and she beamed like the sun that was making a halo around her blond head. She had that big, hopeful, dreamy look back in her wide eyes. I prayed it would never leave again.

"I don't," I replied simply.

There was a quiet pause as Sophie mulled that over. She did this cute thing where she bit her lip a little bit and flicked her eyebrows up, as if to say, "not bad, for a snowman." I continued to stare ahead, watching out for low flying planes. Sophie leaned her chin down on the top of my head at let out a deep sigh.

"Bored?" I asked, even though I knew she couldn't possibly be.

"Yeah, really, Frost, you should get a radio back here or something," Sophie said sarcastically as she ruffled the hair on the back of my head like she was twirling a dial. She paused, then said in awe, "Wow, your hair is crazy soft, dude."

I furrowed my eyebrows and shook my head like a dog. "Gee, thanks?"

Sophie flicked my right shoulder. "Oh, shush. It's a compliment!"

"Uh huh," I said as I rolled my eyes.

Sophie groaned and buried her face in my shoulder. I smiled, enjoying her awkward cuteness. I could feel her cheeks burning through my hoodie. A big grin spread across my face as I suddenly thought of a brilliant idea to make this trip a little more fun.

"You said you were bored, right?"

"Jack-"

"Well, I know a way to make this a little more interesting," I teased as I gripped my staff tight.

"Oh, really-" Sophie stopped mid sentence as I suddenly dropped from the sky and she let out a terrified scream. "Jack!"

I dove towards the ground like an olympic swimmer getting ready to glide smoothly into a pool. Sophie clung to my shoulders and squinted her eyes shut. At the last second, I swooped back up into the sky. Sophie was still clutching me like a lifeline, so I assumed she hadn't realized we were okay.

"See, wasn't that fun, Soph?"

Sophie released me, finally noticing we hadn't plummeted to certain death. Her breath came out in deep, raspy bits of warm air on the back of my neck. "Do...not...ever...do...that...again."

"What? Don't try to tell me that wasn't the most fun you've had in years!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry, dropping at 500 miles per hour towards the very solid ground isn't my idea of fun, you ridiculous snowman," Sophie panted.

"What did you just call me?" I chuckled.

"Ridiculous snowman!"

"That's a first," I muttered.

"Just promise you won't do that again!"

"Sorry, no can do." I liked getting her mad. She was so cute when she was frustrated. "I am the guardian of fun, Soph."

"Ugh! How does anybody stand you?"

"No idea, blondie," I glanced up at her to see her reaction to the new nickname.

"Oh, God-don't-don't even go there. I will call you a snowman in front of all your friends," Sophie threatened. "Or...snowflake. Or...uh, icicle? Polar bear? Penguin? Popsicle? Frosty the Snowman...the possibilities are endless, dude."

I scrunched my face up, "I think I like Frosty. Skip the snowman part, though. That's too long."

"I like Penguin."

I jerked around a cloud and argued, "That one doesn't even make sense!"

"I like penguins. They waddle around and huddle and it's so cute!" Sophie drawled.

"They're really very smelly," I pointed out.

Sophie giggled. "Perfect name for you, then!"

I chuckled. "That stings."

Sophie frowned. "I do like Frosty, though."

"Frosty's got my vote."

"Fine, Frosty," Sophie sighed, defeated as she flicked the back of my head.

"Ow!" I shouted in protest as I scratched my head where she'd flicked it. She giggled and murmured an apology. "Nah, I kinda deserved that one."

"So, what exactly do you do, when you're not saving the world from bad guys and flying me around?" Sophie asked curiously.

"I'm Jack Frost! I do...icy things. Like, frost. And snow days. And snow, I do that too," I explained, a little taken aback by her question. Of course she knew what I did-how could she not? It was sort of obvious.

"Well, yeah, I know that. But don't you..get, like, lonely?" Sophie quickly added, "I mean, most kids don't even see you..."

I swallowed, "Yeah, I do get lonely. But I protect the kids. That's my job."

I looked up at her to make sure my reasoning made sense. Apparently, it didn't, because Sophie scrunched up her mouth like she was thinking hard. She looked pretty adorable when she was concentrating on something. Jack, snap out of it. She's sixteen years old, for Sandy's sake. You're over 300 years old. But...I sure as hell didn't feel like it. What would Jamie think? It was his baby sister I was flirting with. He'd probably prefer I go flirt with some other innocent girl.

"I'm sorry you have to live like that...forever."

Sophie's voice drew me back to planet Earth. Her eyes were brimming with hot, salty tears, and her eyebrows drew up in a pained expression. She seemed just as upset about my predicament as I was. I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but looked away before she could see how fake it was.

"It's fine, really, I should be grateful," I said, more to convince myself than the girl sitting on my back. "I mean, I'm the guardian of fun, what could be better than that?"

Sophie bit her lip and didn't say anything. She could see right through my attempt to hide my pain, my longing for something normal in my life. I missed my sister, mostly. She lived her life thinking I was dead, that I fell through drowned beneath the ice. I'll never be able to tell her I was okay and that everything really was going to be fine. I gulped back tears and refused to look back at Sophie. God, just being around a kid my age made me wish I'd never fallen through that ice, but actually talking to one...that was like torture.

We flew in silence for a while, just listening to the steady rush of wind in our ears. Sometimes, Sophie's long blond locks would tickle the back of my neck, and I couldn't help but giggle a little. I was extremely ticklish, but I sure as hell didn't want Sophie knowing that. Or anyone else, for that matter. So, I did my best to muffle my giggles, and Sophie didn't notice, so I guessed she'd fallen asleep.

She was so sweet. I didn't understand why she put up with me, why she didn't want to get back to her real life. I was convinced she had masses of friends and millions of guys gushing over her. How could she not? She was smart, funny, beautiful, flirty...Ugh, quit it, hormones. You'd think after being a seventeen year old for three centuries, you'd have a little bit of control over your hormones. Unfortunately, I rarely had the need to suppress my feelings, so I wasn't exactly used to the hormone imbalance thing. I hung out with little kids all the time. I didn't exactly fall in love with them. Not that I was falling in love with Sophie. I just...cared about her. There wasn't anything weird about that. I always cared about her.

I gently shook my shoulders to try to wake Sophie up since I could see North's fort rapidly approaching. Okay, so I wanted to impress her some more, but who could blame me? A sky view of "Santa's village" was sort of a once in a lifetime thing for most people. I was just making sure she was awake for it. She did sleep a whole lot...

Sophie yawned and brushed her hair from her eyes, "J-jack? Mmm?"

"You're gonna wanna see this, Soph."

I heard Sophie's breath catch in her throat as she saw the rolling hills of tiny little elf houses mixed with larger Yeti huts, all surrounding North's fortress in the mountain. It was all bright red and green, very festive. I was used to it, but I could tell Sophie was pretty impressed from the way her whole body tensed and how she craned her neck around to get a good look at everything. I landed steadily on the platform by the big front doors, and Sophie hopped off my back. She took a couple unsteady steps, and I caught her under her arms before she could fall over. "Woah, Soph. You okay?"

Sophie stood up and faced me, her eyebrows a little furrowed. "Yeah, I just...feel a little, uh, shaky? It's probably just flying for so long...I'm not exactly used to it, y'know."

I nodded. "Just, uh, take it slow."

"Okay," Sophie agreed as the big, deep red doors slowly opened to reveal North's workshop. "Oh, wow," Sophie murmured in awe. I glanced around the toy cluttered, Yeti and elf stuffed workshop like it was nothing, but I was always a little taken aback when I came in here. There was just...so much. After all, there were a whole lot of kids who believed in Santa around the world. It literally did take 364 days to make presents for them all.

A couple elves stopped what they were doing and stared at us blankly. Sophie scooted a little bit closer to me, which made my heart beat a little faster. She felt protected around me. I suppressed a smile and continued to look at the elves, who raced off in the other direction.

Sophie stole a glance at me, and I met her wary gaze with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure Mund told North-"

"FROST?" A deep voice bellowed. I cringed at the sound of North shouting my name, and Sophie flinched like someone just poked her with a hot, pointy stick. North stormed down the stairs wearing his long sleeve red sweater rolled up to reveal his "Naughty" and "Nice" tattoos on his arms. Honestly, he didn't look anything like what people expected out of Santa Claus, besides the beard.

Sophie gulped and edged closer to me again. A faint smile played on my lips, but I looked the other way so she wouldn't see. North saw her standing beside me, and he nearly fell down the rest of the stairs. "Frost, what are you thinking? She's...Sophie, she's human!"

I opened my mouth to explain just as a hole opened up in the floor and Mund popped out. Everyone turned to him. Mund quickly analyzed North's shocked expression, Sophie's slightly terrified one, and my sheepish grin. Mund said in his Australian accent, "Uh, how is everyone?"

Sophie bit her lip and started backing toward the door, "Um, I think I should go home..."

"No, Sophie, it's fine, Jack must have brought you here for a good reason," North's hard eyes softened on her, and Sophie stood uncomfortably halfway between me and the door, still poised to run. I almost wished she'd grabbed my hand or something.

"North, I sort of suggested they come here...they were in Alaska...and I was pretty convinced Sophie was half way to hypothermia..." Mund explained, guilt all over his furry face.

I cleared my throat. "I'm not exactly the best at keeping people warm."

North shot me a weird look as he addressed Sophie. "Well, you've got to be cold, Sophie. The elves made hot cocoa in the kitchen this morning-that should warm you up."

Sophie glanced around at all of us, her eyes wavering over me. I looked over at her, and she gave me a nervous smile, then followed the waddling elves off to the kitchen. She tugged some snow out of her hair and disappeared around the corner.


	4. Chapter 4

After Mund was convinced Sophie was out of earshot, he rounded on me. He looked me up and down, his eyes cold and judgmental. "Think this is funny, huh? Messing around with little anklebiter?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, "What? I-we didn't-"

"Save it, Frost," Mund snapped at me as he crossed his arms grumpily. "I know she's the only teenager who can see you, but seriously? Can you just control yourself?"

"Woah, slow down. There's nothing going on between me and Sophie."

North rolled his eyes. "C'mon. I saw the way you two looked at each other. It's sort of obvious, Jack."

"Well, maybe-it's-we're just friends-"

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about it," Mund groaned as he scrunched up his nose in disgust. An extremely awkward silence followed, where I couldn't try to deny my feelings for Sophie but I couldn't convince them nothing happened between us. It must have been at least three minutes of Mund pacing in front of me, steam practically pouring from his fuzzy ears, and North looking at me like I was a completely new species who definitely deserved to go on the Naughty List.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sophie walked in, carrying a big, steaming mug of hot cocoa overflowing with jumbo marshmallows. She had a peanut butter cookie between her teeth, and looked pretty happy until Mund and North stared blankly at her for at least two minutes. She froze and started looking down at herself like she had a big stain on her shirt or something. I tried to signal to her somehow of what they suspected of us, but she didn't seem to be catching on. She sat down on the work table beside me and offered me a bite of her cookie. I smiled at the sweet gesture and took a bite out of the other side. She grinned.

"You better not have just gotten cold germs all over it or something," She teased, but her smile vanished when North and Mund gave us a stern glare. "So...uh, what were you guys talking about?"

North stared pointedly at the floor, and Mund's back fur stood on end. My cheeks flushed red and I chewed the bit of peanut butter cookie still left in my mouth. Sophie looked around at all of us, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Oh, um...well, er, North, your elves make really, um, good hot chocolate. And, uh, cookies," Sophie stammered as she tried to break the silence.

"Yeah, the cookies are great," I agreed half heartedly.

North just continued to stare at us, then headed back upstairs. Mund followed him, and I could hear them whispering in North's office. Sophie caught my eye, and let out a nervous laugh. "Well, that was probably the most awkward conversation I've ever had with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny."

I cocked an eyebrow in her direction, "You can say that again. Are you gonna finish that cookie?"

"Uh, no, here," Sophie said as she handed me the half-eaten cookie.

I took a bite and said with my mouth still full, "Don't worry about it. They're kinda weirdos."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Sophie's head. "Jack...did you tell them...do they think we, um, y'know, like-slept together?"

I gulped. "I swear, I denied everything."

Sophie suddenly starting laughing, all seriousness dropping from her face. She gripped my shoulder for support, rocking back and forth with fits of uncontrollable giggling. It got to a point where she was laughing so hard, no sound came out. I started laughing, too, and every time one of us would pause to breathe or say something, we'd glance at each other and start cracking up again.

"I'm pretty sure that was the most awkward thing that's happened to me in three hundred years," I choked out.

Sophie tried to sip her cocoa, but she snorted it out of her nose as she start to laugh. This, of course, only caused more hoarse laughter on both our parts. Sophie stood up and covered her nose with her hands, laughing so hard she doubled over. I rocked back and forth, floating a little bit off the table, pointing at her since I couldn't catch my breath to make some witty comment.

One of the more concerned looking elves handed her a tissue, and she tried to thank him but was still laughing too hard. She blew her nose and wiped her mouth clean of any hot chocolate remnants, then tossed the tissue in the wastebasket by the door.

She returned to me, the color rising in her cheeks. "Seriously, Frosty. I can't believe you didn't say anything!"

I stared at her in shock. "How could I? I mean, Soph, we did sort of wake up together. And-Mund-he's very overprotective of you-"

Sophie shoved my arm playfully and buried her face in her hands. "This is so embarrassing!"

"Hey, they think you're the victim in all this! I'm the only who supposedly_ seduced_ you," I grumbled.

"_Seduced_? Oh, God, Jack."

"You know, I am pretty seductive, Soph. You can't deny it."

"Oh yes, I can," Sophie said with a smirk.

"Really?" I whispered lowly.

Our faces were only inches apart. Sophie stared into my eyes, her smirk fading away. I glanced down at her her lips, desperately wanting to kiss them. Wait, what was I doing, anyway? This was Sophie-Jamie's little sister. What kind of a guardian would I be if I fell in love with my first believer's sister? But...gah, why was she so perfect? Sophie's lips parted slightly in a little surprised gasp (which was pretty gosh darn adorable, by the way), and she quickly turned her head away. Her cheeks flushed beet red.

I quickly looked away like nothing happened, feeling a little dazed. I fiddled with my staff, and caught a glimpse of her sipping her hot cocoa tentatively.

North and Mund suddenly burst out of North's office, both looking quite worrisome and flustered. Mund narrowed his eyes at Sophie and I sitting beside each other, as if he had some sort of superpower that could will us apart. Sophie glanced at me anxiously, and I caught her eye. Her cocoa had given her a chocolate mustache. Without thinking, I reached out and gently wiped it away with my hoodie sleeve. She smiled, and I couldn't help but grin back at that face.

North cleared his throat loudly. Sophie and I snapped to attention like soldiers or something. Mund (would it be totally wrong if I said "hopped?") towards us. Sophie's whole body tensed, but I didn't feel nervous at all. I didn't care what Mund thought, really.

"We've, ahem, reached a decision," Mund began.

"About what?" I interrupted, winking at Sophie, who fought back a giggle but elbowed my ribs harshly. I shoved her with my shoulder, and Sophie toppled off the table, barely saving her hot chocolate from spilling all over herself. I let out a childish giggle, and Sophie jumped up, her hair messy and determination sparking in her electric green eyes. A mischievous grin spread across her face, and to be honest, I was a little scared of the look she was giving me.

Mund's face scrunched up in rage as he tried to control us. "Really, you two? This is important and it involves you both-"

I leaned over and blew some cold air on Sophie's nose. She flinched and crinkled her nose as she squinted her eyes. God, she was like a puppy! She gave me an irritated, "i'll-deal-with-you-later," and turned to Mund with a sigh. "Mund, please. Jack and I didn't do anything. You don't think I'm that dumb, do you?"

Mund stood there, momentarily stunned. "W-why, 'course not, Sophie."

"Good," Sophie said firmly. "Because I really don't need to learn about the birds and bees again-definitely not from the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. No offense, but that's sort of every child's worst nightmare come true."

Mund glanced back at North, who shrugged. Sophie winked at me before Mund turned back around. "B-but, you two-you're flirting. I mean, it's obvious-"

"Mund! C'mon, we're just being goofy," Sophie laughed.

At this point I decided to jump in, "Exactly, we're like brother and sister!" As soon as those words left my lips, I immediately regretted it. Sophie's face fell slightly, leaving only a sad little smile on her face, while Mund and North seemed relieved.

"I suppose you two are right, maybe you can be trusted," North gave in, glancing at Mund who appeared to still be pondering our whole situation. He quickly nudged Mund.

"Right-right-trusted, yeah, why not," Mund hesitantly agreed with North, before focusing his attention on me. "But if you do anything to hurt this little girl, know this... I will find you Frost."

He seemed pleased with his threat and backed away slowly, pointing at the two of us with the motion that said "I've got my eye on you two." And with that, he bounded away, leaving Sophie and I alone with North.

I sneaked a peek at Sophie to see her reaction, but she was just standing there, staring at the tip of her boots. Her eyes appeared farther away, as if her body was here, but her mind was in an imaginary world of thought. Guilt crept over my lungs, even though I had no idea what for. My observations were interrupted with a cough from North.

"So you two," he began, "you may stay here for a little while, but I must get back to business soon. It is the busiest time of the year."

Sophie remained quiet, waiting for someone to break the silence because it was clear that she wasn't. North was slightly disgruntled by this, and I was absolutely taken aback. She would always have something to say about Christmas. Always.

"Alright then, you take care now, Sophie," North crinkly smiled at her, then glared at me. "And, you, don't mess anything up."

North rambled towards the workshop, and we were left with an icy silence in between us (don't even mention the irony).

**Thank you to everyone who reads, reviews and follows! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. It makes my day:) Hope you guys like this chapter! I'm trying to update as much as possible!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry guys-in the last chapter it was a little confusing, but Jack and Sophie did _not_ sleep together. Mund and North just thought they did, and Jack couldn't figure out a way to prove that they didn't since they fell asleep next to each other (and woke up next to each other, too). He couldn't prove that nothing _happened_ between them:) Sorry for the confusion guys! Hopefully this chapter will clear it up a little!**

"Well they certainly have some faith in me," I joked, but I heard no laugh. Sophie had started to slouch away towards a distant hallway, and I ran to catch up with her.

"Soph, are you okay, what's wr-"

"Just stop, okay?" she whirled around, hurt obviously shown on her countenance.

"I don't understand, what just happened?" I threw my hands in the air in surrender, hating seeing her upset like this. What's worse is that I may have caused it.

"What just happened?" Sophie flamed, the hurt quickly being replaced with anger. "What just happened was my best friend can't even tell what they did wrong!"

She crossed her arms, and I came up behind her, trying to coax the problem out. Wait, did she just say best friend? My stomach fluttered with nervous butterflies.

"Please, Sophie, please. If I said anything that would hurt you, I didn't mean it, I promise you I didn't." I begged for forgiveness, not fully understanding the situation, but I knew if anything, I had to get her back.

"Why would you say brother and sister?" Sophie mumbled, almost inaudibly, and I realized my mistake. Jamie.

I smacked my hands on my face, and hung my head low. One slip of the tongue, and it had to be something that horrible.

"Sophie...I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories about...that..." I couldn't lose my only believer left. She was so unlike all the others my age, so unique, clumsy, and so perfectly her.

"Y'know it's not even just that," Sophie faced me again, ready to rant. "It's the fact that you look at me like that's all I am. It's the fact that you don't think that we have a connection deeper than that. It's the fact that...you don't think I mean any more than that." She turned quiet then, glancing down and suddenly appearing embarrassed.

And something clicked.

I remained rooted in my spot, dumbfounded by the realization that just hit, no longer bound inside my mind.

Sophie grew impatient and began to turn away, whispering "Forget it," before I grabbed her wrist, and spun her around pulling her close to me; only an inch keeping us apart. She appeared shocked, her wide eyes glancing frantically into mine, searching for reassurance. I smiled warmly at her, to let her know that everything is okay. She appeared to accept my comfort and grinned back.

"Please don't leave me," I whispered, something prickly forming in the back of my eyes. "You're more than my best friend, you're more than my sister, and you're special. I can't bear the thought of you being mad at me."

It was back, the shy smile that I had waited too long to see. I breathed out in relief and she laughed; that angelic laugh that was one of my most favorite sounds I have heard. I smiled and really looked at her, keeping my hand cupped on her face.

Every inch, every detail was so honest and so pure that I couldn't help but notice it from the beginning. Her big green eyes were starting to get misty despite the smile on her face. I blinked back my own tears, bringing her face close to mine. The world around us started to slow down; I couldn't hear the squeaky voices of the elves and the low grumbles of the Yeti's anymore. All I could see was the stormy, emerald ocean of Sophie's eyes that I was starting to drown in. Her long, messy hair was covering part of her eye, and I reached a shaky hand out to brush it away. She wrapped her hand around mine, squeezing her eyes shut and suddenly pressing her lips against mine. My eyes flew open in surprise, then slowly slipped closed as I kissed her back. Her arms relaxed around my neck, and she seemed to melt into me. She smelled like hot apple cider-a sweet mix of cinnamon and apples. I didn't know where the hell you got perfume like that, but I never wanted her to run out. It felt like time had halted to a stop. I couldn't tell you how long it lasted if my life depended on it, but I do know that I never wanted it to end.

Unfortunately, mammals have to breathe.

We pulled away from each other, both blushing fiercely as we looked at each other. Sophie let out a stupid, girlish giggle and looked away from me. She was still holding her empty hot cocoa mug, and she attempted to hide behind it by pretending to drink out of it. She took a couple soft steps back from me and spun around so I wouldn't see her smile. I rolled my eyes behind her back and hooked my arm around her waist, spinning her around back into my arms.

"Jack!" She exclaimed, making half-hearted attempts to wiggle out of my embrace.

"Soph!" I mimicked her perfect voice.

She scrunched up her nose in frustration. I grinned. She suddenly got that dangerous, smug grin back on her face again. I froze, my hands still at her waist. I was too afraid to take them off.

"Are you ticklish, Jack?"

Oh, no. Oh, God, no. No, no, no-

Suddenly, I felt a light, funny brush of warm fingertips on my bare stomach under my hoodie. I erupted in giggles, releasing Sophie, who continued to tickle me heartlessly. I doubled over, covering my stomach with my arms to protect it. She somehow got to my armpits, which caused me to actually collapse on the floor in fits of laughter.

Sophie laughed at my obviously extreme reaction to tickling. She dived in and tried to get my neck, but I tucked my chin in defensively. She stared at me in my crippled position, looking for a weak spot. "So, is this a guardian of fun thing, or have you always been super ticklish?"

"Soph-no, stop-I don't know!" I shouted between random fits of laughter as she poked me in all my weak spots.

"That's for knocking me off the table, Frosty!" She giggled as she extended a hand out towards me to let me up. I took her hand without thinking about it, and she pulled me up without letting go off my hand. She jerked her arm back, and we were centimeters from each other again. She gave me a short little peck on the cheek and whispered, "And that's for kissing me back."

With that note, she spun on her heel and walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, calling back at me, "I'm putting my mug back!"

I swayed on the spot, still a little speechless. I definitely underestimated that girl. There I was, convinced I would be left to make the first move for a kiss, but she did it before I could muster the courage to look her in the eyes. And she'd totally been holding out on the tickling thing to catch me by surprise. She must have noticed how much her hair bothered me while we were flying. She was anything but predictable.

I was pretty sure of one thing-I was falling in love with Sophie Bennett, Jamie or no Jamie.

**Please review! It's so nice reading them:) Thank you!**


	6. Chapter 6

I practically skipped around Santa's workshop, grinning at all the Yeti's that were giving me weird looks and the elves that just stared at me with wide eyes. I slid my staff across a work table, leaving an intricate frost pattern in my wake. I grabbed a Yeti's shoulders, and the Yeti just glared at me.

"She kissed me!" I said enthusiastically.

The Yeti just gave me a blank look, while a couple elves behind him squealed in delight and jumped up and down. I released the Yeti and dove down on my stomach next to the jumping elves, resting my staff behind my head and swinging my feet around. "I think I'm falling in love, little guys."

The elves nodded enthusiastically, and held out their hands for high-fives. I chuckled and whacked my palm against their tiny ones so hard they both fell over. I jumped up and flew upstairs, about to go knock on North's doors and tell him the news. Wait, what was I doing? I stopped dead in my tracks. No way I could tell North I just kissed a sixteen year old girl. He probably saw it already, but still, that could get very awkward very fast-

"Frost?" North's thick accent cut through my thoughts.

I jumped back in surprise, scratching the back of my head and refusing to look the big guy in the eyes. I shifted uneasily on my feet, suddenly feeling bashful. Did he know? The look his was giving me...he knew, oh God, he knew. His right eyebrow cocked, and he grinned smugly. "Something you want to talk about?"

"Uh, no, sorry, big guy," I stuttered. North strode past me down the hall, barely suppressing his chuckle. I dug my foot into the carpet and stared at my shoes, embarrassment (something I'd been feeling a lot lately) finally creeping up on me. Brush it off, Jack. I wasn't used to this-I was the guardian of fun, for Sandy's sake. I was not normally so...what was it called, hormonal? Jeez, Soph was making my head spin. I sighed and leaned against a forest-green wood door.

Sophie's blond head bounced along the aisles below between the Yeti's workbenches and turned around like she was looking for someone. I smiled, and formed a snowball to throw at her, but paused mid swing and let it melt away in the warm air. I didn't want to hit her. Since when did I not want to start a snowball fight? Well, it was kind of unfair-I mean, she couldn't exactly form her own snowballs out of water vapor...

A little elf suddenly pointed up to me, and Sophie's head swiveled up to look for me. I jumped back from the railing, that weird shy thing coming back. I was the guardian of fun, how could she make me feel so...insecure? I didn't even know what to call it. My stomach was doing cart wheels and I was on the verge of puking up butterflies.

Still, my curiosity got the better of me and I peeked over the railing a little bit. Sophie saw me and narrowed her eyes. I gave her an uncertain smile and shrugged my shoulders a little bit. She sprinted up the stairs to me, and I could have sworn my heart was about to bust through my chest and get the hell out of there. My eyes locked on her and wouldn't falter, no matter what I did.

She gave me a funny look. "What?"

I managed to avert my eyes from her. "Nothing."

She did that cute scrunched up thinking face again and looked around the workshop. Her gaze suddenly fixed on the slightly ajar door of North's personal workshop. She flicked her chin towards the door, a devilish grin creeping over her face. I wondered if that was what I looked like ninety-eight percent of the time.

"Is that..." Sophie trailed off, standing on her tiptoes and craning her neck to try to get a better look inside.

"Santa's office? Yep," I smirked.

"Can we...would he get mad if..." Sophie took a couple steps closer, but glanced at me, fear suddenly striking her heart. "Oh, we're definitely going on the naughty list, aren't we?"

I chuckled, "I've been on the naughty list for a very long time, Soph."

Sophie crossed her arms across her chest. "Well, I haven't! I'm a good person!"

"C'mon, Soph. He likes you, I'm sure he won't mind," I said as I rolled my eyes at her. She uncrossed her arms and bit her lip anxiously. I groaned and grabbed both her hands, dragging her into the office.

"Jack!" She hissed at me, her eyebrows drawn up in worry.

"I'm impatient."

She was about to roll her eyes or make some sarcastic comment, but a soft gasp escaped from her parted lips. Her wide eyes searched the room hungrily, taking in the big, cozy fireplace in the corner and the tall bookshelves on the far wall. But mostly, she stared in awe at one of the ice sculpture North was working on. It looked like a tiny train set. The train was incredibly detailed, it's wheels had little lines on them to show their wooden texture. There was a track the train was meant to go on, and a couple tunnels it could pass through. I glanced back at Sophie, who's eyes were brimming with tears, but she quickly blinked them back.

"It's beautiful. Jamie and I...we had one just like it."

There he was again. Jamie. I gulped. I would never stop regretting not taking care of that kid. The guilt would just never go away; maybe it would eventually eat away at me so much I'd die. I sort of hoped for that day to come soon. I hesitantly wrapped an arm around Sophie's shaky shoulders. Somehow, that only managed to make it worse, because Sophie quickly swiped a fallen tear from her cheek and sucked in a desperate breath. She stared at the ceiling.

"He would want to you be happy, Soph," I said, squeezing her shoulders.

Sophie's chest heaved, but she nodded her head, letting her hair hid her face from me. She sat down and crossed her legs, applesauce style, beside the train set. She smiled up at me like a sad, broken angel. "You're right, Jack."

"Am I ever wrong?" I joked.

That earned me a laugh. Sophie sighed, "Oh, shush."

I sat down next to her, gazing at the trainset. "Maybe North'll show you how to work it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the train probably moves somehow..."

"It's ice, Jack. I don't think even Santa Claus can do that."

"Look who grew up into a big pessimist?"

Sophie grabbed the back of my hood and yanked it over my head.

"Hey!" I protested, laughing. Sophie turned away from me as I peeked out from under my hood, suppressing her grin.

"I'm not pessimist, Frosty!"

"Ahem," A thick, Russian accent suddenly said from the doorway. Sophie and I jumped. I spun around, pushing back my hood. Sophie stood stiffly, brushing off her jeans and playing with the ends of her hair.

"It's really beautiful," She said sincerely to North. His tough, this-is-my-office-Frost, look melted away when he saw her. Did she have that effect on everybody?

North's cheeks grew rosy. "Thank you, Sophie."

Sophie grinned at him, then they both turned to me like I should say something. I stumbled over my words, "Um, yeah, North, actually, it's cool."

Sophie laughed, and I quickly added, "No pun intended."

North chuckled, "Alright, Frost, now get out of here before I call the Yeti's on you."

"You got it, big guy," I smirked and headed towards the door.

I glanced behind me, to see Sophie giving North a big hug and murmuring a soft "thank you," with her eyes squeezed shut. I immediately felt like I saw something I wasn't meant to-like I was invading her privacy somehow. It felt like I had read a couple pages in her diary about something I did to her. My stomach flip flopped uneasily. I quickly looked away and slipped outside the door, my head spinning.

The train set reminded her of Jamie. What if North did that on purpose? What if he was trying to make her hate me? No, that didn't make any sense, anyway. North liked me. He liked Sophie. He wouldn't try to hurt us, ever.

No, it must have been just Sophie thinking about Jamie. What was wrong with me? It was like someone had injected me with some paranoid juice. I furrowed my eyebrows and tried to clear my head. I rubbed my temples and found that I was pacing up and down in front of North's office. Sophie leaned against the doorframe, watching me with an amused expression on her face. "Are you back from Planet Jack Frost?"

"Huh? How long have you been there?" I asked, halting my pacing immediately.

"Oh, five or so minutes. I said your name like fifteen times, Jack. What were you thinking about?" Sophie stood up from the wall and walked toward me. I started smelling the hot apple cider off of her again, and my brain felt even more fuzzy.

I grinned. "You."

Sophie blushed fiercely, "Jack!"

"Hey, I think about you alot," I said honestly, but with a crooked smile so she wouldn't know I was dead serious.

Sophie searched my eyes, grinning as she said, "That's a little creepy."

I stuck my tongue out at her. She pushed her hair from her face and rolled her eyes at me. She started walking up the stairs, and I ran to catch up with her.

"Soph, North'll kill you! We already went in his office-"

"Calm down, Frosty. North just gave me an all-access pass to Christmas."

My eyebrows relaxed as I let out a relieved laugh, "Oh, okay."

I stayed at the bottom of the stairs, unsure if I should follow her upstairs. She glanced down at me and threw her head back and stared at the ceiling like it was to blame. "Stop being so cute and get your ass up here, Frosty."

I immediately floated up the stairs to her. "Cute?"

Sophie flicked her eyebrows up at me and dashed up the stairs. I tore up after her, and let out a giggle. A floating top blimp grazed the top of my head, and Sophie artfully dodged a plastic toy plane. A yeti cackled as he hit me with the toy plane instead.

"Phil!" I shouted in anger, and Phil only laughed harder at me. I groaned and continued to chase Sophie up at least ten flights of stairs. We winded up at the very top of the workshop (which was very tall, by the way). Sophie was puffing a little bit, but I didn't feel tired. In place of a ceiling, there was a bright, stained glass dome roof. It showed all the guardians in a big circle, with a big, glowing earth in the center. I thanked the Man on the Moon that we weren't all holding hands. The sunlight poured through the richly colored glass, casting colorful shadows on the wood floor. To my surprise, North had his arm around my shoulder in the glass window. I smiled down at the workshop in the glass roof, looking a little smug, of course.

Sophie ran over to the side where the picture of me was. She jumped up and down excitedly, grinning and pointing up to me. "It's you!"

I chuckled and leaned my head on my staff, staring up at the smug-glass-me. "Yep."

Sophie narrowed her eyes at me, "Did you know this was up here? Did you just want to show off your glassy, sunshiney self?"

"Actually, I didn't, Soph."

Sophie smiled and murmured, "Well, it's beautiful. Really."

I shrugged. "Seems sorta cheesy to me."

"Jack! He made a..glass..mural..painting..roof..thing! All about you guys. That's sort of the sweetest thing ever!" Sophie exclaimed.

I chuckled, "Yeah, I know. Just kidding."

Sophie hung her head to hide a grin. "You better thank him when we get down there. I'll purposely bring it up if you don't. Even if it's totally off-topic and I look like a total weirdo. You are thanking that man."

"Okay, okay! I'll say thanks!" I exclaimed as I held my hands up in surrender.

"Good, Frosty." She smirked as she stood on her tiptoes to ruffle my hair like I was a obedient puppy.

A grin spread across my face. "Arf?"

"Sure," She laughed.

I leaned back on the railing next to her, watching the sunlight glinting off the glittery blue glass of glass-Jack-Frost's sweatshirt. Sophie squeezed in next to me, slipping her hand in mine. How did she manage to know exactly when to do that? Her palm felt warm on my own cold one. A funny, giddy, warm feeling spread from my hand to the rest of my body slowly, making me feel like I could fly for miles and miles, but I stayed put, my head leaning on Sophie's shoulder.

**Again, thank you all for your sweet reviews, favorites, and follows! I hope you liked this chapter:) **


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up to the sound of busy elves chirping at agitated Yeti's. I groaned. Still stuck at the North Pole. Sophie and I had spent the rest of yesterday exploring the Christmas Wonderland and goofing off with elves. We ate way too many christmas cookies shaped like reindeer and sleighs, all decorated delicately. Sophie made sure I ate plenty of light blue frosted snowflake cookies, since they were "totally made for me." I did my best to keep her warm, but she kept running around outside in the snow, and there wasn't much I could do to help her stay warm anyway. She kept talking about this movie, Elf, and how it was her favorite and she was going to make me watch it. I just gave her a funny look and threw snowballs at her. Apparently the guy from Elf was a human who grew up in Santa's Village and goes to New York to find his real dad. Sophie told North about it, and North thought the idea was slightly ridiculous but played along. Sophie told me Christmas was her second favorite holiday about ten thousand times, right behind Easter. But she didn't tell North that-she said she loved both Easter and Christmas equally to him.

Sophie managed to convince North to let her see the reindeer today-something North usually kept secret. She was pretty good at puppy eyes. Eventually, I got pretty exhausted and Sophie was tripping over the elves because she couldn't keep her eyes open, so we agreed to use two spare rooms in North's workshop. I didn't want North to get any ideas about us, so I made sure I stayed in my room all night. Honestly, it wasn't that hard to fall asleep after all the Yeti's and elves left.

I stretched my arms and yawned again, pushing back the covers (I still used them even though I never felt cold. It was like a security blanket thing). Sunlight poured through the red and green reindeer curtains. I swung my legs over the bed, pulling on my hoodie and brown pants.

A shy knock broke my concentration as I tried to flatten my messy white hair.

"Come in," I said in a bored monotone, assuming it would be an elf with breakfast or North come to yell at me.

The door pushed open a little bit, and Sophie peeked inside. She looked relieved when she saw I was fully dressed and relaxed her shoulders, smiling and walking inside. Her hair was thrown up in a very messy bun on top of her head, and she wore pajama pants that were the same pattern as the curtains with a big, oversized white tee shirt. She blushed a little bit when she realized she was in pajamas and I was fully dressed.

"Hey," I said warmly and leaned against the vanity.

"Good morning," She said as she let out a big yawn. "Yeti's make super comfy pajamas, by the way."

"I see," I said, looking her up and down. Her toes were painted with a coral nail polish. She wiggled them when she noticed I was looking at her toes. I chuckled. "So, are you ready to see the reindeer?"

Sophie's green eyes lit up like a little kid's. She leaned back and forth on her tiptoes as if she were getting ready to jump. "Yes! Oh, by the way, there's another Christmas movie you need to watch. It's The Polar Express. It's possibly as good as Elf. The little boy gets one of Santa's bells and you can only hear it ringing if you believe, and he always hears it even when his little sister doesn't and it's so cute-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, Soph. I'm sure it's adorable," I smiled as I interrupted her.

"Have you seen any Christmas movies? Wait-no-you have seen a movie, right?"

I gulped and replied softly, "No."

Sophie's mouth fell open. She spluttered, "We are watching a movie today and that is _final_. 300 years and you haven't watched anything..."

I shrugged, "I'm usually a bit preoccupied with, y'know, every snow day ever. And all the frost on the grass, and windows, and-"

"Gah, I know. Shush. Speaking of that-who's exactly making ice crystals at the moment?" Sophie narrowed her eyes at me. "Are there two of you?"

I laughed. "No, just me. It can still snow without me. It's not like I personally touch every snowflake you ever see. It snowed before I became...well, me. It's not going to stop if I skip a couple days."

"Phew. I want a white Christmas."

"I can do that." I grinned.

"That's definitely a bonus to knowing you," Sophie said. "Well, um, I should probably put some real clothes on..."

I nodded. She stood in the doorway and did a little wave as she said, "Bye, Frosty!"

I waved back but shook my head. "You're literally one room over, Soph."

Sophie threw her hands up and pretended to stomp to her room like she was mad. I laughed and waited patiently for her to return.

By the time Sophie came out of her room, I'd been waiting for about twenty minutes. I eventually left my room and plopped down next to her door, unsure what I should do with myself while I waited. I yelled at her to hurry up a couple times, eventually singing along to the Christmas songs the elves were blaring over the loudspeakers to wake everybody up.

"Sophieeeeeee!" I whined.

"Whhhhatttttt?" Sophie groaned back through the door.

"Are you donnnneee yeeettttt?"

"No!"

"Ugggghhhhh," I moaned in defeat. "Are you alllmossssttttt doneee?"

"No, Jack!"

"I'm going to explode!" I shouted.

Sophie didn't respond to that. I toyed with my staff, making frost patterns on the floor around me. I hoped an elf would walk by so he'd slip on the ice. Maybe he'd have a clipboard and drop all his papers. I smiled to myself at the thought.

Suddenly, Sophie's door flung open. I jumped up in excitement. Seriously, what was all that for? I mean, she was a girl-and I guess she cared more about these things-but that felt like hours...

"Are you happy, Jack? I stabbed myself in the eye with eyeliner like eight times because you kept antagonizing me!" Sophie grumbled.

I made frowned at her. "What were you doing in there?"

"Getting dressed! I mean, I had to find pants that fit, and a sweater that fit, and everything seems to be Yeti-sized in here..."

I looked her up and down. She wore pale, sky blue-colored skinny jeans, her brown boots she wore yesterday, an ivory snowflake sweater, and her hair in a messy braid. I smiled. "You look beautiful."

Sophie grinned, "You too, Frosty."

"Thanks, Soph. That means a lot," I joked.

Suddenly, Sophie's stomach grumbled loudly. She stared down at her tummy, her eyebrows furrowed. "I think I'm hungry."

I cocked an eyebrow at her, "Yeah, I think you are."

"Can we get food? Real food? Not cookies! That's all they seem to make here...maybe the Kitchen elves will make us waffles or something..." Sophie peered down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"I guess. I don't see why not," I said, taking Sophie's hand in mine and heading down the hall to the kitchen. She flinched a little bit when my cool skin touched her warm palm, but she squeezed my hand and looked down at her shoes so I wouldn't see her smile.

We were about halfway through a satisfying breakfast of waffles, orange juice, and sausage when Tooth suddenly flung the kitchen doors open, causing several elves to trip over their small feet and knock over a big tray of cookies. Tooth grimaced and murmured a soft apology, then turned to Sophie and I.

Her whole face lit up when she saw Sophie. Sophie stared at her, barely managing a shocked smile and a shy wave. Tooth giggled. "Sophie! Oh, you've got all your grown up teeth now, don't you? And you got your braces off!"

Sophie nodded slowly. I remembered Sophie and Tooth's first encounter, when little Sophie ran away screaming as Tooth enthused about bloody, gummy teeth. I grinned in spite of myself-I could tell Sophie had never quite gotten over that.

Sophie gulped, and Tooth seemed to remember Sophie's childhood trauma involving her, so she turned briskly to me, looking a little flustered. "Jack, um, emergency meeting."

"Emergency meeting? Over what?" Sophie asked curiously before I could open my mouth to ask the same thing. Tooth glanced between us, a smile playing at her lips and her wings fluttering excitedly. I could see her giggly, matchmaker gears whirling in her fairy head.

I cleared my throat.

"Oh, um, well, Sophie, I don't know if you should know, I mean it's sort of scary-"

"She's not two anymore, Tooth," I said, and Tooth raised her eyebrows at me as if to say "Well, you know that, don't you?" I quickly added, "Just tell us, Tooth!"

"It...might..possiblybeaverybadthing."

"Which is?" I asked.

Tooth stared at me, scrunching up her face like she was concentrating on sending me a telepathic message. I just shook my head at her. Neither of are telepathic, Tooth, sorry to break it to you. What could be so bad she couldn't tell Soph? Sophie's eyes fell downcast and she turned back to her waffles, clearly understanding she wasn't going to get any answers yet. Tooth grabbed my forearm, pulling me off my stool. I shouted an apologetic goodbye to Sophie and Tooth dragged me away from the kitchen-quite literally. I didn't want to leave Sophie, but apparently duty will carry you away before it even tells you what the hell it's calling about.

"Okay, is it just me, or am I literally always dragged to these meetings?" I fumed, yanking my arm out of Tooth's grasp. Tooth mouthed "sorry" at me. I looked around, seeing the familiar glowing globe and the red and gold carpet. North stood in the center of the room, staring at the globe, his eyebrows furrowed as he stroked his beard. Sandy smiled at me, waving. I couldn't help but grin back and wave at the little guy. Bunnymund was there too, glaring at me. I looked past him and back to the globe.

"This is about Sophie, Jack," Tooth said softly, her face sudden sad.

"What about her?"

"There are surveillance camera jingle bells in all the rooms. And the one in Sophie's caught something rather...disturbing, last night," Bunnymund said crisply.

"Guys, I swear I didn't go in there-"

"It's not you the cameras picked up, Frost," North said stiffly.

I paused, glancing around at all their faces in confusion. "Then...who?"

Sand swirled above Sandy's head, but it didn't form any hints.

"You won't believe us unless you see it for yourself," Bunnymund grumbled, kicking the carpet corner up and back down. A sorrowful elf hurried over to me, holding out a transparent, square piece of a sturdy, shimmery, rainbow material. I took it, my hands shaking a little bit. I leaned against a desk below the big globe, and the square flickered to life.

The room was dark, but I could make out Sophie asleep underneath the crumpled reindeer blankets. She lay on her side, curled up like she was in a cocoon. She had half her face buried in the pillow, but her hands were in tight fists. She didn't look like the most peaceful sleeper I'd ever seen. So far, nothing was really wrong besides the fact she looked like she was having a nightmare. I should have asked her how she slept...

Suddenly, I saw a flash of yellow eyes about seven feet off the ground behind Sophie's bed. My eyes widened. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was Pitch. But we'd gotten rid of him more than fourteen years ago. It wasn't possible.

I looked closer, and I could definitely make out a pale face attached to the eyes, a long dark, V-neck cloak that blended perfectly into the darkness. The camera image flickered, and suddenly the figure was on the other side of Sophie's bed, stroking her head. There wasn't any audio on the video, and I was pretty sure I didn't want to hear what Pitch was saying to her. Sophie's eyes stayed closed, but she looked like she was murmuring the same thing over and over-I couldn't tell what since half her mouth was covered by her pillow. My stomach twisted in uncomfortable knots. Who knew how long Pitch had been doing this to her?

I looked up at the rest of the guardians, who all stared at me with concern, besides Bunnymund. He was still kicking the carpet around. North noticed, but was trying hard to ignore it. I looked back down at the video screen, nearly jumping out of my skin when I saw what happened next.

Pitch had turned towards the camera, so it looked like he was staring right at me with his bright yellow eyes. He clearly mouthed the words, "She says Jack."

I could almost hear his mocking voice whispering it in my ear. Pitch was here, last night. He was one room over in the room of the mortal I cared the most about. And he could have been in there every night since Jamie died, for all I knew. Sophie hadn't mentioned him, but maybe she still thought Pitch was banished for good, battling off his own demons. Maybe she just thought that they had to be bad dreams.

The video cut short then, and I handed the square back to the elf with shaky hands. I leaned back and forth on my staff, searching for something to say to the guardians.

Finally, Bunnymund, after continuously glaring at me for at least four minutes, said something. "You're supposed to take care of her."

I gulped, and didn't say anything. Still, since when was it only my job to make sure Sophie was safe? Wasn't that technically everybody's job? It was kinda my fault that she still even knew we existed, though. I bit my lip. "I swear, I had no idea anything could hurt her."

Tooth's wings fluttered slowly, her face a mix of fear and empathy. "We know, Jack. We didn't, either. It's not your fault."

"But we don't even know how long he's been back-and doing this to her!" Bunnymund shouted in frustration. Tooth shrunk back a little, her little face hung low in shame. Sandy shook his head, and all eyes turned to him. He waved his hands around a little bit, and the sand imitated Jamie's smiling face, then a big semi truck whacking a little Volkswagon bug. He meant that Pitch started coming after Jamie died, but the illustrations hurt.

North nodded and explained, "It makes sense, Sandy. After Jamie died, Sophie was probably very scared, and vulnerable. She would have been perfect for Pitch to...leech on to, especially since she knew he was real. Childhood fear is pure and innocent, but Sophie's pretty grown now...she has a deeper understanding of what's really scary, more than funhouses and clowns."

"That's great," I muttered sarcastically. "What are we supposed to do about it?"

"Keep an eye on her," Mund said firmly. "We can't let Pitch keep doing whatever he's bloody doing to her."

"We can't stop her from being scared, Mund. That's part of human nature," Tooth sighed.

"We can bloody try!"

"No," I said softly, looking up from my staff. "Tooth is right. We can't just eliminate Sophie's fear. Her brother's dead, Mund. And she kissed the boy who could have saved him. She's probably terrified. She'll be terrified sometimes-she can't help it. Everybody's scared of something, Mund. That never goes away, we just try to ignore it."

Mund swallowed and stared at the ground, his nose twitching. North just stroked his beard feverishly, like somehow that would help him come up with something to do. Tooth would float up, then back down, and up again. Sandy sat there, almost forming symbols with his sand but letting them fall back around his head again before they would actually be readable. Everybody seemed to be lost in thought, but all I could do was look between them desperately for answers.

I eventually stood up and starting heading over to the kitchen towards Sophie. Nobody stopped me or said anything, so I assumed they knew where I was going, and that I was probably going to tell Sophie everything.

Sophie watched me with big, wide, horrified eyes. She just stared at me for a second, then asked, "So you saying that he's been in my room-stroking my head-every night since Jamie died?"

"Uh, yeah, sorta," I confirmed as I scratched the back of my head with the tip of my staff.

Sophie turned back to the single strawberry left over from her waffles. "And...he was doing that whole thing...last night?"

I nodded.

"That's...that's some crazy, disturbing, screwed up shit. I thought he was _dead_!"

"Uh, he was. But after Jamie died, you um, well, we think that it's because you're older and you still believe in him. Your fear is kinda different than little kids. I guess it's...stronger. He's using you to come back. Or at least, he was. I think he's pretty much...um..."

"Blossomed?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Blossomed by now."

Sophie took an angry bite out of her strawberry and said grumpily, "I am going to smack that creeper silly the next time he decides to freakin' _stroke my head_. And give me some pretty awful nightmares. Actually, I thought it was because Jamie died, but I hadn't had a good dream until two days ago when I was with you...I didn't think much of it, though. I mean, my brother died, I didn't expect to be dreaming about unicorns and rainbows."

"Still, Soph...that was two years ago."

"Your older brother dying a death kinda related to your 'imaginary' friend isn't something you get over fast," Sophie snapped. She buried her head in her hands, "I was pretty sure none of you were real, Jack. I guess some part of me still believed, otherwise Pitch wouldn't be here."

I wrapped her into a big hug. Her body trembled against mine, but I did my best to keep her steady. I murmured quietly, "I won't leave you again, Soph. Trust me."

**I really hope you guys liked this chapter! Pitch is back:O So please tell me what you think, and I really appreciate everyone's super sweet reviews! They make my day!**


	8. Chapter 8

Sophie's arms hugged me tight, her chin resting on my shoulder. She still smelled like hot apple cider. Maybe it was her shampoo? I sighed. I didn't really care why she smelled like hot apple cider. I just wanted her to be okay. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't feel guilty every time I smelled apple cider. I was going to fix this. She wasn't going to just become the girl I screwed up. Pitch wasn't going to hurt her. Nobody was.

Bunnymund appeared in the doorway, leaning against the tall, red and gold wall. His eyes looked a little misty as he watched Sophie longingly. I could tell he wanted to talk to her, that little Australian mushball.

I gently pulled away from Sophie and tilted my head towards Bunnymund so she'd see what I was trying to do. Sophie gave me a quizical look, as if to say "Dude, I thought we were having a moment?" I tilted my head even more, and she seemed to understand.

Sophie spun on her heel so she could face Mund. He stood up from the doorframe, a sad grimace on his face. He was trying hard to look happy to see her, but I could see through it. He was just as worried about Soph as I was. I couldn't see Sophie's face to tell if she could tell he was anxious.

Suddenly, Sophie threw her arms around Mund, nearly causing him to knock his head on the doorframe. She stood on her tiptoes so she could do so. Mund stood there, shocked, but then hesitantly patted Sophie's back. His awkwardness was almost too much for me to take. Just hug the poor girl! But he did look relieved that he could hold his little ankle biter in his arms-maybe for the last time.

No. I wasn't going to think that way. Not now, not ever. Sophie was going to be fine. She was going to see all of us again. She wasn't dying, she wasn't turning into some sort of slave for Pitch, she was just staying her beautiful, shy, clumsy self.

Mund looked at me over Sophie's shoulder and mouthed, "Thank you."

I shrugged and leaned my chin on my staff. Sophie hugged him because she wanted to, not because I made her. She wouldn't have attacked him with hugs if she didn't really need to.

"I'm so sorry," Sophie choked out into Bunnymund's fur.

Mund's eyebrows furrowed. He pulled back from Sophie and gripped her shoulder's tight with his paws. He locked eyes with her. "Do not apologize. This isn't your fault."

Sophie's arms fell limp at her sides. She nodded her head, but I could tell she was still blaming herself for this massive mess. I wished I could convince her otherwise, but I doubted she would really believe anything I said to her. She still had her back to me; she just stood there before Mund, hanging her head. I could almost see her thoughts whirring around in her blond head. Mund, feeling obliged to say something, ruffled her hair and whispered, "Be strong, lil' ankle biter."

He tapped the floor beside him, and jumped down his rabbit hole.

Sophie and I spent the day watching tons of Christmas movies. I could tell she was trying to be tough like Mund told her to be. I could still see right through her mask. I would catch her jumping at the slightest noise, or checking all the dark corners in a room for Pitch's trademark yellow eyes. She was quiet at first, just picking out her favorite movies and munching on the endless of refills of popcorn brought to us by the elves. Then, she started acting goofy and throwing popcorn at me when I said that the Santa in A Christmas Story was corny. Still, she'd zone out watching the TV screen, and I didn't believe her when she said she was just thinking about the movies.

About halfway through our moviefest, a light bulb seemed to go off in Sophie's head. She insisted that we build a giant blanket fort. We recruited some of the little elves to help us make it, but they were just as clumsy as Sophie was. Plus, they crippled under the weight of pillows and blankets. Sophie and I did most of the work, and the elves rewarded us with two big glass bottles of cream soda-the only soda Sophie would drink. Sophie and I stood back to admire out handiwork.

We'd draped at least five blankets from an assortment of chairs and Yeti workbenches by the big fireplace next to the globe. Sophie set up the TV so the snowflake patterned blanket hung from the screen to the green couch we were previously sitting on. She covered the bottom of the blanket fort with big, giant, fluffy pillows so we could lie on our stomachs and not feel uncomfortable. I suggested flashlights, which the Yeti's handed us with low grumbles that I assumed had something to do with the uselessness of a blanket fort.

North came by and told Sophie she might not want to see the reindeer today. He had already gotten them ready in case, you know, bad things happened. They'd be on edge, and not quite as "sweet and caring" as they usually were. I doubted that the reindeer were ever really "sweet and caring," but I didn't want to ruin it for Soph.

Sophie just said she was fine with it, and that she could make me watch more movies.

Eventually, Sophie popped in a DVD called Jack Frost. I gave her a skeptical look.

"What? This is one of my favorites!" Sophie exclaimed as the opening credits flashed across the screen.

"You mean I actually exist in your culture?" I smirked.

Sophie giggled. "'Course you do, silly. Just, um, nobody really knows what you look like...or if you're a bad guy or a good guy."

"Bad guy? C'mon! What kind of bad guy gives little kids snow days?" I demanded.

Sophie held up her hands. "Hey, hey, I never said you were one. But, I mean, cold, and...ice...and...people don't normally associate those things with happy thoughts. But in this one they do! It's so cute, dude; it makes me cry."

I shot her a funny look. It couldn't be that sad.

I was wrong. I was, totally, completely wrong. Sophie and I were both on the verge bawling by the end of the movie. Jack Frost in the movie was actually this normal guy who died and came back to life through his son's snowman a year after he died. Jack was sort of a jerk and a terrible father, but he was a rock star (which I thought was pretty impressive for a middle aged man with a ten year old kid). Then, when he came back, he was pretty much the best dad ever. I felt like crying my eyes out when he had to leave his son all over again because it got too warm.

I glanced over at Sophie, who was desperately wiping under her eyes with her sweater sleeve, and we both laughed.

"That's probably the best Jack Frost movie," Sophie admitted.

I gulped back waterworks. Sophie glanced over at me. "Jack..are you crying?"

"It's sad! God, these things are seriously...emotionally stressing," I defended, my voice cracking.

Sophie smiled and said, "We can watch Rudolph next. That's happy. And we can sing the song." How did that one go again? I frowned at her. She stared at me, her mouth gaping. "Don't tell me you don't know the words, Frosty."

"Hey-I'm not a huge Christmas fan! I'm not North," I muttered sheepishly.

She still looked a little baffled. "Please don't hate Christmas like the horror movie Jack Frost."

"I'm in a horror movie?"

"I haven't seen it," Sophie laughed. "I just heard about them! There's a sequel, I think."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Well, I like Christmas. I just..." I fiddled with my pillow case, "I just haven't really had anyone to celebrate it with in a while, y'know?"

Sophie's smile faded, her eyes full of what I hoped was understanding. I didn't want her to pity me. She gave me a shy little half smile that made my stomach fill with tiny butterflies. "I get it. Hey, you can always hang out with me. I'll get you something."

"It's in a week!"

"So? Last minute shopping is the best kind."

Sophie winked as she clicked the Jack Frost DVD back in it's plastic case and set the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer one in the DVD player. She nestled into my arms, pulling her wool blanket over us.

"If you're cold, we shouldn't really be cuddling," I teased. Sophie just made a "mmm hmm" noise and snuggled in closer to me. I could feel the heat coming off her in warm waves. I was almost afraid that they would literally melt my heart. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and lightly kissed her forehead.

Sophie smiled, but continued to look transfixed on baby Rudolph's glowing red nose.


	9. Chapter 9

By the time Sophie and I had finished The Polar Express, all three of The Santa Clause movies (which had a Jack Frost that I argued was a very poor representation), Frosty the Snowman, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which Sophie hastily defended was a Christmas movie since it had Santa in it), A Year Without Santa Claus, and countless of cheesy Hallmark movies, we were both feeling a little brainwashed. Sophie kept humming the tune of Frosty the Snowman without really realizing it, and I couldn't stop thinking about Heat and Snow miser.

Very slowly, Sophie and I emerged from our blanket fort to check the time. To our surprise, the entire workplace was deserted. It must have been later than we thought it was. I caught a glimpse of North walking around upstairs, and ran to catch up to him.

"North! What time is it?" I called, assuming Sophie was following me.

North turned toward me, looking overworked and quite frankly-stressed out. He had bags under his usually twinkly blue eyes. He didn't even try one of his friendly smiles on me. He gestured to the clock a little irritably.

I read the clock. It was almost one in the morning. North grumbled something unintelligible and headed back to his room. I assumed it was something like "Go to bed, Frost." I headed downstairs to find Sophie rubbing her eyes weakly and leaning against a very large pile of stuffed bears for support.

"C'mon, sleepyhead. It's almost one," I teased, not feeling the slightest bit tired myself.

"Not tired," Sophie muttered.

I bit my lip. I realized that sleeping was probably the last thing Sophie wanted to do right now. Sophie gazed at me with her tired eyes, still slumping into the teddy bears. She wrapped her arms around the giant mass of brown fur and red bow ties, sighing and burying her face in their yellow tummies. I raised my eyebrows, unsure of what to do. Sophie groaned loudly into the bears.

"Uh, Soph? You okay?"

"Uggggggghhhhhhhhhh," Sophie moaned.

I grinned. "Seriously, you're gonna pass out any second. You need to sleep."

Sophie muttered something into the pyramid of stuffed animals that I couldn't understand.

"What?" I asked.

Sophie drew her head out from the bears, and turning to face me. "No, Pitch will stroke my head again. That's...so...disturbing..."

I laughed at the way she was handling the whole thing. Other people would probably just keep the creepiness to themselves, or be more scared by the fact that Fear was walking into their bedroom every night. Sophie just didn't want him to stroke her head. Or at least maybe that was just the exhaustion talking. I reassured her that I wouldn't let Pitch stroke her head any time soon.

Sophie stuck her head back in between the teddy bears. I was seriously getting worried the Yetis would be mad at us. I tried to pry her away from the teddy bears, and she sank heavily into my arms. "Woah," I murmured, surprised at her inability to stand up straight. I did my best to straighten her out, but her wool socks dragged on the floor and she felt completely limp. She barely managed to keep her head up.

"Soph, you gotta help me here," I pleaded with her half-conscious body, unable to get her in a position where I could pick her up and carry her. Sophie tossed her arms around.

"Not helping," I grunted, finally holding her out at arms length by gripping her shoulders. Her head rolled around, then snapped to attention.

"Don't let me fall asleep!" She exclaimed suddenly, leaping from my arms and running a lap around the pile of teddy bears. By the time she got back to me, her sprint had been reduced to less than a walk; her wool socks were dragging on the floor again.

"Woah there, blondie. Baby steps," I said as I held out my arms to catch her in case she collapsed on the spot. I scooped her up wedding-style. Her heavy arms wrapped around my neck and her face buried in my chest. That was it. I was going to put her on the couch and watch her from there.

I lifted off the ground and quickly floated over to the couch we'd used to make the blanket fort. I set her down on the cushions and pulled the blanket up to her chin. Her eyes wearily gazed at me, fear penetrating her green irises. I tried to give her a reassuring smile as I said steadily, "You're gonna be fine. I promise. Go to sleep, Sophie."

Sophie paused, just looking at me for a second. Then the corner of her mouth drew up a little bit and she curled up in the blanket, and closed her eyes. I plopped down on the other side of the couch since her legs only covered about three fourths of it. Sophie didn't seem to notice.

I crossed my legs and started playing around with my staff, making complicated leafy patterns of frost on the floor by me. I eventually turned and looked at Sophie, feeling a little weird as I watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful with the dream sand swirling around her messy hair. A little image of Sophie and I throwing snowballs at each other danced above her head. I smiled. She was dreaming about me.

I blinked, quickly snapping back into guard mode. I needed to protect her. Pitch was probably here already, lurking somewhere. What was it with him and lurking, anyway? Why couldn't he just make himself known so I could kill him already? I just wanted to stop this before it got any worse. I thought I'd fixed it years ago. Apparently I was wrong.

I stayed awake for at least two hours, just listening to the tick tock of the big clock on the wall. Nothing seemed to be happening, and I was getting pretty tired. I leaned my head against the armrest and felt my eyelids getting heavy.

I didn't mean to fall asleep. If I could go back in time and blow a giant whistle in my ear, I would. Unfortunately, time travel is impossible-even for a guy who can shoot icicles from his fingertips.

I was dreaming that Sophie, Jamie, and I were playing in the snow, like old times. Sophie kept falling on the ice and Jamie did his best to keep his balance, but I was totally comfortable on the slippery surface. Sophie tried to throw a snowball at me, but slipped forward with her swing. I easily dodged out of the way, pretending to check my fingernails.

"That's the best you two have got?" I teased, grinning.

"Are you mocking me, Frosty?" Sophie shouted as she tried to stand up on the ice and let out a giggle.

Suddenly, a hard snowball hit the back of my neck. I spun around to find Jamie already poised with another snowball. "I got your back, Soph!" He yelled.

Sophie laughed, and then I heard her scream.

I jolted awake, instant dread filling my lungs. How could I be so stupid? I fell asleep! I promised she'd be okay; she trusted me; she believed me! I glanced over at Sophie, and found that I could barely make out her face in the darkness. A pale hand was wrapped around her mouth, and her eyes were wild with fear.

That's when I heard him. Pitch, living and breathing, his hand muffling one of my sole believer's screams. He chuckled and smiled at me, revealing his yellow teeth. His golden eyes were outlined in dark circles from his lack of sleep. His normal, seven foot stature almost looked taller since the last time I saw him. Maybe that was just because I was sitting down on a couch, but it wasn't really important at that particular moment.

Pitch winked at me, and before I had time to react, both Sophie and Pitch had vanished into thin air. My empty hands grasped the empty space where Sophie had been less than a second before. The blankets sunk back down into the cushions with her absence.

No, no, no. She wasn't gone. She couldn't be.

"Sophie?" I whispered hoarsely into the darkness.

Silence. My hands clenched into tight fists, anger boiling over inside of me. I roared, "Pitch! This isn't over!"

I was going to get her back. She had to know that. She had to know I wouldn't sleep until I found her. I ground my teeth in frustration. Now it really was my fault. I was sitting right next to her; I didn't understand how Pitch could get to her. Oh, right, I'd fallen asleep. I felt so stupid. I just couldn't manage to do anything right, could I?

I heard North bounding down the stairs loudly, shouting in Russian. I leapt from the couch to meet him. North froze when he saw me, my face flushed with anger and my hands running through my hair.

"Frost...where's Sophie?" He spoke slowly, but still sternly.

I gulped. What could I tell him? Oh, hey, North, buddy, I sort of just failed my one job again. Sophie's sort of gone. I dodged his anxious glances carefully so I wouldn't have to look him in the eye. He still stared at me expectantly as realization seemed to hit him like a tidal wave. "Frost..."

I scratched the back of my head, "North, I woke up, and they were gone too fast for me to do anything."

To my surprise, the big guy just nodded sympathetically. He placed a big hand on my shoulder, forcing me to look up into his baby blues. "I understand. I knew we couldn't protect her forever, Jack. Pitch has a nasty way of getting what he wants. All we can do now is think it through before we go after them."

I stared at him, speechless. Was he really not throwing chairs at me right now? I guessed he was tired or something. I felt like I deserved a couple bruises for losing Sophie, but I wasn't going to suggest them. I slowly nodded my head, still feeling a little dazed by his surprising behavior.

North called a meeting of all the guardians again, and they were all standing around the globe in less than ten minutes. Tooth was there first, making record-breaking time with seven minutes. She fluttered up to me and wrapped her thin arms around my shoulders, her normally happy eyes blinking back tears.

Sandy came next, looking a little upset that he had to leave the dreams unattended. It was still nighttime after all, and most people were already dreaming. I wondered if Sandy knew about my dream with Sophie and Jamie in it. Sandy saw me and frowned, but, of course, didn't say anything.

Mund came last. His eyes were puffy and red, probably from crying. My stomach twisted knowing that he was just as torn up about losing Sophie as I was. After all, who knew what Pitch was doing to her? I blinked and shut those thoughts away. I had to focus on making a plan, not feeling sorry for myself. If I thought Mund glaring at me earlier, he was pretty much trying to set me on fire through an angry gaze with the power of a million burning suns now. I swallowed and avoided him and his gaze. Luckily, he seemed to restrain himself with everybody else around, and didn't come up and break my neck.

North clapped his hands together. "I assume everyone knows what happened already. Pitch kidnapped Sophie. All we can do now is think of a way to get her back."

Okay, now Mund was throwing his boomerang dangerously close to my neck. I tried to dodge it, but Mund had a pretty good arm. "Hey, quit it!" I shouted at him.

Mund caught his boomerang, his left eye twitching. His words dripped with sarcasm. "Sorry, mate."

I bit my tongue and gestured for North to continue.

"Anyway, like I said, we need a plan. We can't just rush into things."

I knew that North was right, but I didn't really want to wait around for everybody to agree on a plan. Since when did plans really work, anyway? We get there, and all hell breaks loose whether we like it or not.

"We could attack during the daylight, when Pitch is more vulnerable," Tooth suggested.

"Wherever he is, it's probably dark there all the time. I doubt sunlight would do much good," Mund grumbled. Tooth's wings sunk a little bit and she played with one of her feathers. The way she was twirling her finger around it made me think of Sophie. Something snapped in me.

"I don't care when we attack. I don't care how. I don't really care about anything besides when. This is all my fault. I'll go alone. We-I-can't risk anybody else getting hurt. Besides, Pitch likes to use love against us. He'd just hurt Sandy to get to Tooth or hurt Mund to get to North. He's probably already hurting Sophie to get to me. Then we'd all be complete wrecks and totally useless," I sighed. "We should let one person go. The person who started this whole mess. Me."

The guardians just started at me for a few seconds, their mouths gaping a little bit.

And then the room erupted into angry, concerned reasons why was I was most definitely not going alone. Dream sand raced above Sandy's head in a frustrated fashion. Mund stomped his feet, accidentally causing big holes to appear in the floor. North kept clutching his tummy and most likely yelling something about how he "felt in his belly" that this was a bad idea. Tooth just kept making weird faces and agreeing with her fairies, whom I couldn't understand if I tried. I watched them with raised eyebrows, kind of enjoying the spiraling chaos I sent them into.

After five minutes of the guardians running around in circles and trying to make their points clear over everyone else, Mund got fed up. "Silence!" He shouted above the noise. "This is not helping Sophie!"

We all fell silent at that.

"Mund's right," North confirmed as he stroked his beard. "Jack, I don't know if you should come at all."

"What? You have got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed, hitting my staff against the tiled floor and accidentally coating it in ice. Two elves spun ballet-style around each other on the slippery substance.

"Jack, you're getting too...emotional. You do realize Pitch would just use you against Sophie, to make her more scared? If he killed you, then...well, Soph might not really have much to care about anymore," Tooth said solemnly. Her fairies nodded at me.

"This is my fault," I growled.

"All you do is screw things up, Frost! We need to do this right," Mund snapped.

I hung my head as the words sunk in. I wasn't going to try to deny that. Mund was right...I did screw everything up. I couldn't protect Sophie when she was literally right under my nose.

But that didn't mean that I wasn't going to get her back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! So sorry I haven't been updating, I've been really busy lately:( This chapter is written from Sophie's point of view, let me know if you guys like it! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND REVIEWING:) It makes me so happy!**

**Hope you like this chapter, review or PM me if you have any comments or questions!**

I swear, all I did was blink, and Jack's horrified face dissolved into nothing. I immediately bit down on the pale palm clamping my mouth shut. It tasted like salt water. The hand quickly jerked back from me. I jumped to the side and out of my attacker's arms. I spun on my heel to face him.

I was literally staring fear in the face. He smiled smugly at me, and I felt like throwing up. His yellow eyes looked me up and down, and took a step towards me. I automatically backed up from him. My heart beat so loudly, I was afraid he could hear it. I locked my eyes on him, afraid to look away.

"I'm so glad we can finally have this little chat, Sophie," Pitch hissed, circling around me.

"Chat? You call this a chat? This is, like, kidnapping, dude. Not okay," I stammered.

Pitch made a pouty face at me. "This was the only way I could get you to listen to me."

"Listen to you?"

Pitch leaned down and whispered in ear, "You don't need to hide how scared you are, sweetie. I can smell it off you."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "What are you, a dog?"

Pitch chuckled. "Sophie, I really just want to help you."

"Dude, you've been...feeding off me for the past, like, two years!"

"How old were you when Jamie, uh, passed away? Fourteen? You know what they say, time flies when you're having fun." Pitch grinned. "I have a surprise for you."

Uh oh. Not a surprise. That did not sound good. Not good at all. I bit my lip anxiously. "I don't like surprises."

Pitch ignored me and snapped his fingers. Another bad sign. I looked around for something with a chainsaw about to start sprinting towards me, or maybe a massive, hairy spider with snapping pinchers, but didn't find anything but darkness.

"Um," I glanced over at where Pitch had been standing. "Was that supposed to... do something?"

I realized Pitch was gone. My shoulders slumped in frustration. I knew he wasn't really gone. He was probably watching me from the corner, like the creepy head-stroking guy he was.

"Soph?"

It was Jamie's voice.

No, please, no. Not Jamie. Anyone but Jamie. I squeezed my eyes shut. He wasn't real. That wasn't really Jamie. Jamie was dead. Jamie had been dead for two years. He wasn't coming back. Whatever this thing was, it was just a fake Jamie. Something Pitch came up with to torture me.

I felt him shake my shoulder.

"Soph, it's me. I swear, please, you have to believe me."

Every inch of me wanted to turn around and dive into one of his trademark big-brother hugs, but I knew I couldn't. That was what Pitch wanted me to do. I just had to ignore him. Maybe he would go away once Pitch realized I wasn't falling for it.

"Sophie! It's your big brother, silly! What's wrong?"

Something inside of me snapped. I spun on my heel to face this thing head on. Kudos for facing my fears, right? I was going to tell this thing off, then go smack Pitch for doing this shitty thing to me.

Unfortunately, my plan didn't exactly pan out the way I wanted it to. Jamie stood before me. Not some altered, slightly disfigured, clearly fake Jamie with Jamie's voice. It was Jamie, exactly as I remembered him. His brown hair was a little messy, but not too messy, like the way I ruffled it before Jamie went out on his first date. His big brown eyes reminded me of the melted milk chocolate we'd eat on our s'mores when we went camping. And his freckles were at their peak freckly-ness, like in mid-August on a sunny afternoon in the park. Everything looked exactly right, even the worry line on his forehead he'd only recently acquired.

"Soph? Why are you looking at me like that? Have I got something on my face?"

I just continued to stare at him, my anger melting away. My throat felt tight, and it was getting hard to breath normally. How could this not be my big brother? My big brother who said he'd always protect me. My big brother who told me all about the guardians in the first place, and who said they'd always be real as long as I believed in them. My big brother who stuck up for me when I tripped on the stairs at school in second grade and kids nicknamed me Klutzy. I didn't mind, really, I mean, I fall down a lot. I'm okay with that. But Jamie was outraged when he heard a couple older kids shouting it after me, and punched a ginger kid right in the nose. Nobody ever called me Klutzy again, I can assure you of that.

I wiped away a tear with shaky hands. "No," I said softly, backing up from the confused Jamie. "You're not him. You can't be."

Jamie tried to pull me into a hug, but I wrenched myself free from his grasp. I turned to run, towards what I didn't know, but suddenly Jamie materialized right in front of me. I let out a surprised yelp, then covered my mouth with my hands.

"Soph, I don't get it," Jamie said, pacing in front of me. "I'm back. That's all you ever wanted."

I didn't say anything and wiped the tears from my cheeks in frustration. _He's not real. He's not real. He's not-_

Jamie was so close to me I could smell him. He smelled like pine needles and Colgate toothpaste, just like I remembered. I gulped and hung my head, letting my hair fall in front of my face. Jamie reached out and tugged on my bangs, like he used to do when I was little and tried to cut my own hair. I barely stifled a sob and sunk down to my knees.

"Not real, not real, not real," I repeated as I tucked my knees up to my chest and rocked back and forth on the cold ground.

Jamie's voice only got louder, and his smell only got stronger in my nose. I tried to think about something other than my dead brother begging me to look him in eyes, but I couldn't. After what felt like hours of never ending torture, I finally looked up.

Jamie stared at me with his big, brown eyes, his little worry line pressed a little bit. He was crouched down next to me, a little smile tugging at the right corner of his mouth. "Heya, kiddo."

I wiped my puffy eyes again and I whispered hoarsely, "Why are you doing this?"

Jamie's face somehow shifted, a smirk spreading over his sweet face. He spoke with Pitch's voice, "For fun."

My lips trembled, and my vision blurred with salty tears again. I made a sad, incomprehensible whimper, and the fake Jamie only smiled wider. "Stop, please, stop it."

"Don't you love your big brother?" It was Jamie's voice again. I ducked my head in my legs again and stifled a loud, choked sob. My breath came in shaky gasps.

"You're not him, you're not him," I muttered, trying to piece myself back together again. I managed to lift my head up from my knees. Jamie crouched directly in front of me, so I had no choice but to look right at him.

"Don't you miss me?"

"Miss-miss you? I don't miss you, I miss my big brother," I sobbed.

"It's me, Jamie," He reassured me as he played with the ends of my hair. "You grew it out."

Just for a second, I let him in. My walls were already crumbling, and it was just something Jamie would notice. Before I could stop myself, I had my arms around his neck. Fake personality or not, physically, it was Jamie. He was 5'11", but the doctors said he wasn't finished growing yet. Regardless, I had to go on my tiptoes to I could reach him. I buried my face in his evergreen smelling jacket and squeezed my blurry eyes shut. He smelled just like the woods by our house. Two tears fell from my eyelashes.

"I love you," I whispered, even though a part of me knew I wasn't really talking to my brother. Maybe I could fool my body into believing it was him, but my mind wouldn't really accept it.

Still, as Jamie clutched me tight, I really believed there could be a real part of Jamie in this Pitch-controlled nightmare. Then, he spoke, not in my brother's warm voice, but in the cold English accent of Pitch. "How sweet."

I lurched back out of the thing's arms. My jaw clenched as my fists clenched. My eyes were still stinging with frustrated tears. This asshole was really starting to annoy the heck out of me. I glared at the evil smirk Pitch had spread across my dead brother's sweet face.

"Your brother loves you very much."

Did I almost hear...sympathy? I stared at my fuzzy brown boots and dug my right foot into the floor, trying not to cry again. I was playing right into Pitch's plan, and I knew it. But I couldn't really help it. It was my brother, the one person I might do anything for.

"You're not my brother. How the hell would you know anything?" I croaked.

"Oh, we've had a few chats, Jamie and I," Pitch examined my brother's fingernails.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Now this guy was really not making sense. "He's dead. You can't talk to him-"

Pitch laughed Jamie's laugh. I shuddered. "You silly girl! Jamie Bennet is not dead."

My breath caught in my throat.

_Jamie Bennet is not dead._

He was lying. There was no way-

_Jamie Bennet is not dead._

Every inch of me longed for Pitch to be telling the truth. I knew he knew it, too. I didn't trust Pitch for a second, but if he knew where Jamie was...

_So, Jamie Bennet is...alive?_

"You're a liar," I spat.

"I do a lot of things, kiddo, but I don't lie. People are more scared of the truth than lies, you know," Pitch replied nonchalantly. I flinched when he called me kiddo. That was Jamie's nickname for me, but I guessed Pitch knew that, too. I knew he was right. Sometimes the truth hurt more than a white lie.

"I have no reason to trust you. You've been coming in my room every night for six years, and giving me nightmares, and pretending to be Jamie, and..." I searched for the right words to describe him. Pitch waited patiently for me to continue, looking a little amused. I sighed and crossed my arms in front of my chest. "You're just a douchebag, okay?"

Pitch rolled my brother's kind eyes and groaned, "Don't be so sensitive."

"You've gotta be joking."

"What can I say? I've got to have a little fun! You of all people should understand that, since you keep snogging the guardian of it," Pitch scrunched up his nose in disgust.

His words sounded so wrong coming from my brother's mouth. "You're sick."

"Thank you," Pitch sneered.

"Get out of my brother and talk to me yourself, you coward." I prayed that I sounded brave, like all the characters in books and movies did when they called other people cowards. The truth was, I was desperate to get rid of the twisted version of Jamie. I felt like I was going to puke.

Pitch stuck out Jamie's bottom lip and gave me Jamie's trademark puppy eyes, the ones he'd give Mom and Dad when he really wanted something. I swallowed back the prickly feeling in my eyes. "But I like impersonating the dead. Or...not so much dead."

"God, will you just stop it? Jamie's dead, alright? You're not gonna twist me into thinking he's not so I'll get disappointed and-"

"What if I knew a way to see him again?"

I fell dead silent, trying hard to think straight. _Tell me,_ I begged in my mind. My instincts wouldn't let me say it, though. I shouldn't trust a word coming from this thing's mouth. Still, I wasn't kidding when I said I'd do anything for Jamie.

_Jamie wouldn't want me to._

He'd want me to forget him, or at least move on with my life. That was a little hard when Pitch was basically handing me a way to get my brother back on a silver platter. After all, I wouldn't want Jamie to bring me back if I had died in his place. Of course, I wouldn't want him to be sad about it, either, but it's not like I could really help that. I chewed on my bottom lip anxiously.

"I know you want to see him again, sweetheart. It's okay. It's natural," Pitch said softly as he reached out to touch my hair. I stepped back a little from him. I didn't like it when he called me "sweetheart," or "kiddo," or even "Soph." I didn't like talking to him at all. I couldn't think straight.

"You can really get him back?" I whispered.

"Only if you want me to."

Of course I wanted him to. Of course I wanted Jamie back, so Jack would feel less guilty about me, and I could just feel happy again. I didn't even have to tell Pitch all this, he just nodded his head sympathetically. Since when did this guy actually care about my feelings? I knew this had to be part of his plot. "What do you want? You can't expect me to believe you're doing this out of the...goodness of your heart or something."

"What? I can't help out my favorite-"

"Nope. Just tell me what you want."

Pitch sighed. "I don't want anything. I'm trying to be nice."

"If you were trying to be nice, you wouldn't have kidnapped me!" I scoffed.

"That's my version of nice."

"Great," I muttered sarcastically.

"Do you want your brother back or not?" Pitch demanded.

I paused, and then the words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. I cracked. "Yes, just, please. I'll do anything for him."

"I know you will," Pitch smiled as he snapped his long fingers.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you guys so much for all your support! I'm so sorry it's been taking so long for me to update. Again, I've been really busy with school and sports and overall ****_everything_****. But writing is a really great way to get my mind off this stress, so I'll keep writing! **

**Enjoy!:)**

I leaned my head against the icy outside wall of North's fortress. I puffed out an exasperated sigh and slid down so my legs were bent in front of me, and I could rest my staff on them easily. I was trying hard not to think about Sophie and Pitch, or the guardian's mistrust in me as the winter wind whipped my snow-white hair around my face. I was sitting on a tall balcony I only found by flying around the mountain for a while. I didn't really know what was inside the door a couple paces to my right, but the lights were off so I assumed nobody was around to yell at me. I was alone.

I thought about how Sophie, being her curious self, would probably try to open that door and figure out what was inside. I gulped back my guilt and decided I wasn't going to do anything that would remind me of her. It would only make everything worse. So I just sat there, oblivious to where the hell I was and liking it.

Weirdly enough, I wasn't angry. I knew Mund was right-I didn't even trust myself, how could he? I bit my lip, but then remembered it was Sophie's nervous habit and released my lower lip from my teeth. I ran my hands through my hair and did my best not to cry, even though there was nobody around to see me. I had to practice not getting emotional, right?

Suddenly, I heard a little chirp by my right ear. I jumped back from the sound, my hands clenching around my staff. I heard an anxious squeak, and found Baby Tooth flapping her wings a couple inches away from my ear. I turned toward her, a little surprised she knew where to find me.

"Hey, Baby Tooth," I said, a little enthusiastically. "I guess somebody still likes me."

Baby Tooth narrowed her little eyes and crossed her tiny arms.

"Yeah, I don't like me either."

Baby Tooth waved her hands frantically, squeaking a little bit. I guessed she was trying to tell me she didn't hate me, but I still felt like crap. She held out her arms, like she wanted to hug me. I gave her a funny look, but she continued to hold out her open arms.

"Baby Tooth, I can't hug you, I think you'd suffocate!"

Baby Tooth let out an exasperated sigh and swooped down to my hand, wrapping her arms around my big thumb and smiling as she squeezed her eyes shut, like she was hugging a teddy bear. Gulp. Sophie had hugged a bunch of teddy bears last night.

Baby Tooth released my thumb and sat down, criss cross applesauce style, on my left knee. She stared at me with narrowed eyes.

"What? I can't do anything. The guardians told me not to," I muttered solemnly, as I traced ice crystal patterns on my left sleeve. "I just mess it all up."

Baby Tooth slammed her mini fist on my knee, squawking something that made her sound slightly irritated and mostly annoyed. I assumed she was saying something about how I didn't always mess things up, and when I did I fixed them.

"Thanks, Baby Tooth, but I don't think that's true. I mean, wouldn't it just be better if I kept out of these things so I could never screw it up so I'd never need to fix anything?" I moaned.

Baby Tooth just glared at me.

"Then again, I'm halfway through already. I might as well try, I guess," I said, perking up a little bit.

Baby Tooth nodded her head, smiling widely. I stood up, and Baby Tooth floated onto my shoulder. "Up to a rescue mission, Baby Tooth?"

Baby Tooth nodded her head vigorously her little wings fluttering in excitement.

"Any idea where Pitch is?" I asked.

Baby Tooth shrugged.

"I think I might," I said, zipping off the balcony.

((Sophie's POV))

"That's it?" I asked skeptically. "Just, uh, stare into the deep dark ditch and, um, make a wish?"

Pitch grimaced as he admitted, "One more, itsy, bitsy thing. We need blood from the direct line."

I gulped. "Want me to get a papercut?"

"You're gonna have to think bigger than that, kiddo," Pitch said, handing me a jagged knife with a smooth, curved, black handle. "Unless you want me to do it."

I shook my head, glancing down into the dark abyss. I squeezed my eyes shut and extended my left hand out over the seemingly never ending darkness. I felt the blade on my clammy palm, flipping my head around to glance at Pitch anxiously. He rolled his eyes and made a "Go on," motion with his hand.

The harsh metal ran down my palm, a trail of crimson tracing after it and dripping down into the blackness, vanishing almost immediately as if it had been swallowed.

I drew back my hand, chewing the inside of my cheek to distract me from the pain. "Ouch," I muttered, wincing.

Suddenly, I felt Pitch's long, thin fingers on my injured hand. I flinched, but before I could protest, Pitch had wrapped a piece of black cloth around my gash. I stared at him, too stunned to speak. Once again, he was actually acting like he cared. Pitch rolled his eyes again and defended, "What? You're gonna attract the hounds."

"H-hounds?" I stammered, tucking my hand in towards my stomach, as if that would stifle the smell.

"Kidding. Not my style."

I gave him my best "I really hate you right now" glare, but he just kept staring ahead towards the black pit of death. I was starting to wonder if he just made me slice open my hand for the heck of it, but then I heard a voice.

"Heya, Dad. How's our favorite little chess piece?" A clear, confident, female's voice radiated from behind us. I twirled on my heel, careful not to fall into the pit.

A gorgeous girl in her early twenties was giving me the mean-girl-style, up and down once-over. She had bright, silky smooth, red velvet colored hair that descended down to her elbows. Her skin was the color of porcelain, without a flaw in sight. Her eyes were rimmed in black eyeliner, with smoky eyeshadow and long fake eyelashes. She wore dark green leather pants with black combat boots and a high-low textured brown tee over her hourglass figure. Her eyes were a deep brown, like the color of freshly plowed earth. Her lips were a dark, reddish-purple color.

Pitch wrapped an arm around my shoulder, squeezing me closer to him as he remarked casually, "She's on board!"

I wiggled out of his embrace, feeling like my skin was crawling with thousands of spiders. "On board with what, exactly? And, um, hi there?"

"Getting your brother back, of course. I'm, uh, what do you call me? Oh, right...Mother Nature," The girl said, flashing her pearly white teeth at me.

My mouth fell open a little bit, but I closed it quickly. I crossed my arms. "So, uh, dude, you seriously need to quit it with the monthly feminine present coming at the worst possible time."

Mother Nature glared at me. "I don't control that."

"Well, you're on all the ads-"

"This isn't important!" She snapped. "Do you want Jamie back or not?"

I swallowed. "You can do that?"

"No. My dad just made you empty half your body fluids into the reincarnation pit of doom for fun," Mother Nature said sarcastically. "Honestly, what does Jack Frost see in you?"

I fell silent, but crossed my arms over my chest. I didn't put up with girls like this in the real world-why would I now? All she wanted was me to blow up at her, so I kept my mouth shut.

"New look, honey?" Pitch asked daughter, warily looking her up and down.

Mother Nature huffed, and if it weren't for the whole super-evil-powers things, I could have believed Mother Nature was just a normal rebellious girl, and Pitch was her traditional father. Mother Nature groaned, "Black hair is lame, Dad."

"I liked it. It was natural," Pitch muttered, kicking the ground with his lower lip sticking out a little. This was really getting weird.

"God, Dad, this is why I don't talk to you!"

"This whole thing is just sorta new to me, alright?" Pitch shouted, his amber eyes flaring.

"Yeah, well, it's new to me, too!" Mother Nature hissed.

I accidentally stepped on a twig while taking a couple steps away from their heated argument, and both of their angry, hot heads swiveled in my direction. They yelled simultaneously, "Where do you think you're going?"

My shoulders shrunk a little bit as I held up my hands in surrender. "Hey, don't get mad at me! I just don't wanna...get caught in the..uh, crossfire, between the..Boogeyman and Mother Nature, capiche?"

They both looked ready to pummel me into the ground, and I automatically regretted I'd ever agreed to anything (as if I hadn't already). Pitch turned away from me sharply, striding over to the Pit of Doom and clenching his pale fists. Gee, thanks for leaving me alone with your crazy daughter, buddy.

"You keep out of this, you stupid girl!" Mother Nature snapped at me. I was seriously starting to rethink my own intelligence at this point, and I was definitely female. So I didn't really care very much about Mother Nature's insult. Still, I didn't dare move a muscle as Mother Nature strode over to Pitch, looking a little apologetic. They whispered harshly at each other-but I couldn't tell if that was a loving tone in their books. I looked anywhere but them, and prayed that this would work and I could get Jamie back. Or maybe just for Jack to come rescue me before whatever was supposed to come out of the Pit of Doom over there could seal me into some horrific fate. Then again, I was sort of done for at this point.

**Hope everybody liked it! I've never read the books (only seen the movie, sorry guys!) so I don't know if I got Mother Nature's character right whatsoever or if she even comes up at all, I'm sort of just making this up xD But hopefully it makes sense and isn't too bad! **

**Let me know if you have any comments or questions, your reviews are so sweet and I appreciate them so much! Thank you!**


	12. Chapter 12

((Sophie's POV))

Finally, the duo turned to me, an eerily calm look plastered on both of their features. Now that they were next to each other, I could sort of see a family resemblance. Pitch's face was more sharp and less pointed, but I guessed Mother Nature could change more than her hair color. Still, their eye shape was disturbingly similar, even though Mother Nature was trying to hide it with her heavy eye makeup. So much for Mother Nature being the soft, windblown, kind, rustic beauty we expected her to be. I guess everybody's insecure, even if you're the mother of all creation. I started thinking about how old she had to be, and why she and her father were still having relationship issues after all this time.

"You need to come over here for it to work, sweetie," Pitch explained, his tone mocking and a little sarcastic. Mother Nature snickered. What the hell did I get myself into, again? No, I couldn't develop a massive crush on the star quarterback like normal girls, I go for the cold-as-ice, invisible, 300 year old types... I sighed and stood on the edge of the Pit of Doom, biting my lip and staring down into the darkness expectantly.

"I swear to God, if either of you pushes me, I will hunt you down," I muttered.

Pitch chuckled, but Mother Nature just glared daggers at me. I chewed my lip, still peering into the darkness. As soon as I started thinking that nothing was going to happen again and I was off the hook, I noticed a shimmery shape that looked like the grainy, streaky image old televisions got when they hit a dead channel. I noticed that Mother Nature was murmuring something under her breath softly. I swallowed. Was that...Jamie? My stomach flipped uneasily.

The figure was slowly rising, and I could make out it's features better. It was still grainy, but was definitely in the shape of a human. Could it really be him? A mess of brown hair was starting to form on the figure's head. The gray skin was starting to take on Jamie's tan skin tone. Next, a pair of blue jeans morphed out of the gray and around his waist, along with a red v-neck and black jacket he'd gotten from being on our school's summer baseball team. His black trademark black converse tied themselves onto his feet. It was the same clothes we found him wearing when he was dragged from under his car, except they weren't blood stained or torn. His eyes were closed; his dark eyelashes standing out from his glowing skin. His lips were closed in a peaceful, yet blank, expression. His whole face looked flawless, but one thing was missing-his freckles. I wondered why he didn't have them, but was overcome with excitement that this was my brother, and I could see him again.

He didn't have to die. I could have both Jamie and Jack.

Suddenly, Jamie's eye flew open, and he inhaled sharply. He stumbled forward onto the ledge, clutching his arms into his chest protectively. A big grin spread across my face as tears pooled in my eyes. I pushed past Pitch and threw my arms around Jamie. This was him, and I knew it. I knew it was him, deep down, in a way I couldn't really explain. My mind whirled with thousands of words I wanted to say to him, but my throat couldn't form any noise but a pathetic whimper. Jamie paused, stunned, but then slowly wrapped his arms around me tightly.

I didn't think about Pitch and Mother Nature. I didn't think about Jack, or how wrong it was that I brought Jamie back from the dead. I didn't even think about how disturbingly easy it was for me to do, and how all my guilt was washed away when I saw Jamie open his eyes.

I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling my hot tears wet my lashes. I don't know how long I stood on my tiptoes, just holding him and letting him hold me. It felt like ages.

"Soph, wh-what did you do?" Jamie asked softly as he pulled back from me. I didn't want to let go of him. Jamie eyed Pitch suspiciously, but glanced back at me with glassy eyes.

"I-I-Jamie, I just, I just wanted you back, I-" I stammered as I tried to explain myself. "Can we talk about this later? You're here, and that's all that's important."

"Soph, no, you didn't...you didn't trust him, did you? No, Sophie, he-he's really not a good guy, I mean, he's the boogeyman, for Christ's sake-"

"Don't worry, Jamie. I'm doing this free of charge. Sophie just owes me a favor, that's all. No harm done," Pitch said as he stepped back into the shadows with Mother Nature. They both were starting to fade, when Jamie sprinted towards them, his hands clawing out at emptiness.

Jamie gazed at them with a confused look on his face. Pitch smiled and waved, before both him and his daughter vanished into the shadows. Pitch's laugh radiated from the corners of the room. My skin bristled with goosebumps.

Jamie turned back to me, his worry line creasing his forehead. "What did he make you do?"

"Nothing," I urged. "Nothing. He didn't do anything. He just said he'd help me. Honestly, Jamie, I didn't believe it either. But, here you are, and...he hasn't done anything terrible yet, right?"

"I'm not worth this, Soph. Really, I'm not. I don't know how he got a hold of you, but I do know this isn't right, okay? I'm supposed to be dead! I know that," Jamie said, running his hands through his hair.

"Jamie. He offered, okay? He offered, for nothing. How was I supposed to say no? W-would you say no? If I died, and you had a way to get me back, would you take it?" I demanded, suddenly feeling very defensive. "Don't lie, we both know you would."

Jamie shook his head. "You're right, I would try to get you back. And that's a bad decision, okay? Who knows what happened to bring me back? Half of human history might be erased or something!"

"Don't you get it? I don't care! It's selfish and horrible and I hate it, but I don't care! You died, okay? You died, and I wasn't ready for that. How could I be?" I shouted, my frustration boiling over. "You died, and you brought a piece of me with you. A really big piece." He stared at me, his eyebrows drawing up in an understanding pity. I glanced down at my boots and dug my foot into the ground.

"I don't remember anything, you know," Jamie murmured softly. "Being dead. I just remember that I'm supposed to be dead, because I remember dying. I do know one thing, Soph-I was okay. Really. I wasn't suffering or something. I would know that."

I wiped under my eyes as the tears started falling. My lip quivered and I didn't try to speak, just stood there looking at the ground. No matter what Jamie said, I knew I would never regret getting him back. No matter what consequences followed this whole mess, I wouldn't ever take any of it back if Jamie had to leave again. That scared me more than any nightmare from Pitch.

Jamie wrapped me up in a big hug, and I let out a choked sob into his woodsy-smelling jacket. He stroked the back of my head, making "shh, shh" sounds like a big brother should. I clutched him tightly and cried until I had no more tears left.

**I'm so sorry for the wait, guys! I've had a lot going on the past week, and will probably have a lot going on for a while...I hope you guys like this chapter, anyway! I will keep updating! Please review or favorite/follow:D Thank you so much!**


	13. Chapter 13

"Soph?"

I pulled away from Jamie and spun around. Jack stood a few feet away, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. My stomach flooded with butterflies at the sight of his snow-white hair and dark blue hoodie. Still, Jack must have gone against the Guardian's orders for me if he was here alone. No way would any of them let him try to rescue me by himself. "Jack!" I exclaimed as I threw my shaking arms around him.

Jack dropped his staff and hugged me close to him. He kissed my forehead, and I was glad my face was pointing the other way so he couldn't see me blush. "Are you okay? God, Sophie, I'm so sorry-I'm so stupid. I should have watched you better; it's all my fault-"

"Oh, shut up, Frosty," I murmured, standing on my tiptoes and kissing him. He was slowly starting to lift off the ground, and I grinned into the kiss as I placed my hands firmly on his shoulders to push him back down. He chuckled as he ran his fingers through my hair. My eyes shut, and all I could think about was his icy body against mine.

"Ahem."

_Jamie. Oh, God, Jamie!_

I leaped back from Jack like he was a ticking bomb about to go off. Jack straightened up, looking a little hurt and mostly confused. My face blushed so scarlet I might have looked like I'd just ran a marathon. Jack followed my line of vision to Jamie, and literally jumped in shock. "What the hell-Jamie? Is that you?"

Jamie did an unenthusiastic wave, his mouth a tight line. "Hi, Jack."

Jack's face turned so blue I thought he might be choking. Jack spluttered, "Uh, um, uh...well, uh...how are you even here?"

"Sophie made a deal with Pitch to bring me," Jamie paused, switching to a deep movie-trailer type voice, "_Back from the dead_."

Jack stared at me in shock. I swallowed, searching for the right words to explain myself. Shoot, I wasn't prepared to tell him all of this. "Jack, listen-"

"Why on earth would you make a deal with Pitch? You do realize that's basically making a deal with the actual devil!" Jack exclaimed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Just let me talk!" I shouted. "I gave in, okay? He broke me. I'm sorry. I couldn't freaking help it. He was pretending to be Jamie, except this sick, twisted version of him and he knew everything I was afraid of and it just hurt too much and he was offering something good for nothing. He didn't ask for _anything_."

Jack's brow softened. "Oh."

"That's it? _Oh_? You've got to be fucking kidding me. You barge in here to rescue my sister, all alone, by the way, and she tells you all about this shit and you just say oh? And not only is your fault that I'm dead-or-was dead, but apparently you also let _Pitch_ kidnap my sister?" Jamie snapped at Jack. Jack cringed a little at every word, but didn't say anything to deny it. "Seriously, Jack, do you ever_ not_ screw things up?"

Jack took a couple steps back, shaking his head a little bit and murmuring repeatedly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

I glared at Jamie. "This isn't his fault! I'm the one who brought you back, alright? And he couldn't have prevented what happened to you. He can't control everything; nobody can, okay?"

Jamie hissed at me. "What did he do to you, Soph? Can't you see he just feels too guilty to not try to fix this?"

"I think you're just pissed I might have actually cared about another guy while you were gone!" I spat.

"That's not what this is about-"

"Come on, Jamie! You got pissed when you saw me kiss him," I said as I grinded my teeth.

"You two were doing a hell lot more than kissing, if you ask me..." Jamie said.

I sighed. "Okay, the protective older brother thing was sweet, but now it's starting to go a little over the top. I just kissed the only guy you'd approve of!"

"Just because I might have approved of him at one time does not mean I approve of him now!"

"Who says I need your approval, anyway?"

"I do!"

I groaned, turning back to face Jack, but finding nothing in the blackness. My frustrated face fell. "Jack?" I called out, hoping he'd swoop down with a sheepish grin on his face. Unfortunately, nothing happened. I glanced around, starting to get worried. I knew Jack would never leave without saying anything...right? Where the hell was he?

"See? Where's your boyfriend now?" Jamie demanded.

I spun back around to face Jamie, my face feeling unreasonably hot again. I spat sarcastically, "Gee, I wonder!"

Jamie rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, letting out an exasperated huff.

"Look, I don't really want to fight right now. Can we just talk about this later?" I asked. Jamie stiffened, staring at something behind my head. He made a small croaking noise, and I twisted around.

Jack floated a few feet away from me, his eyes glowing amber-yellow. He smiled down at me, and something about the way he was looking at me made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle. I got that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach and felt my muscles tense.

"Pitch?" I asked tentatively. Jack smiled. I groaned, "What's with you and impersonating people? How do you do that, anyway?"

Jack landed lightly on the ground, not saying anything but just walking towards me. His amber eyes were locked on me, and I found I couldn't look away. A sly smug smile tugged at the corner of Jack's mouth, and my stomach did anxious flip flops. I gulped, too afraid to back away from the fake Jack. It was seriously setting me on edge since I knew that Jack could have easily become something like this if he'd sided with Pitch all those years ago. I most certainly did _not_ like crazy-ass evil Jack. He raised his index finger to his lips, making a little "shhh" noise. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as I felt something hard and definitely _heavy_ whack the back of my head. I fell forward in the fake Jack's open arms. Before my vision turned black, I saw Jamie hovering over me with a large rock in his hand and a completely confused look on his face.


	14. Chapter 14

"What do you want, Pitch?" I growled, struggling against the dry, brittle, black vines wrapped around my wrists, suspending me from the ceiling. I glanced over at Sophie's slumped form hanging beside me, her head occasionally lolling over to a different side. Still, she never opened her bright green eyes. Jamie stood next to Mother Nature, a tortured look on his freckle-free face. I could tell he wanted to help us, but Mother Nature was controlling him somehow. He didn't need any bindings, and Mother Nature knew it.

Pitch glided towards me, the darkness swallowing his lower body completely. He played with a lock of Sophie's hair, and my face burned with anger. "Don't touch her," I said lowly.

"What? Don't tell me you actually care for this weak, gullible, little girl?"

Jamie opened his mouth to say something, but Mother Nature snapped it closed with a flick of her wrist. My eyes trailed back to Pitch. "I can't exactly tell you otherwise."

Pitch rolled his eyes and made a gagging motion with his finger. Mother Nature shuddered and stuck out her tongue. I bit the inside of my cheek and kept my anger inside. I knew what he was doing. I wasn't stupid.

"Really, what is this all for?" I asked again, wiggling my rope-burned wrists.

Pitch grinned, and just as he was going to answer me, a bright white light flooded the room. Pitch shrieked in pain, stumbling away from me. I watched through squinted eyes as Pitch and Mother Nature shrinked away into the whiteness, and Jamie knelt down on the ground, his hands over his eyes.

"What is this?" Pitch screamed. "We had a deal, you know very well!"

Pitch dropped to the ground, his agony reaching him to a breaking point. He clawed at his face, as if trying to escape his own skin. Jamie and I watched in horror, jaws dropped as Pitch seemed to melt. I could feel my eyes widen and eyebrows shoot straight up as Pitch glanced up at the sky.

"How could you?" He seemed to have whimpered to the glowing sky. "I'll have nothing; I can't have nothing again."

Pitch began hyperventilating, staring at his own hands. He most likely could see the blood from many others stained on them. Heat curled into steam around Pitch's figure.

"You there, boy," Pitch suddenly turned to me, acting fierce. Unexpectedly, his features softened and-was that a tear I could see?

"Jack..." Pitch whispered, his voice cracking. His legs were slowly disappearing into the ground, being replaced with nothing but ashes. I covered my eyes at the harsh light, but turned to him. I felt like I should help him, even though he'd basically been the bane of my existence since I found out about the guardians. We understood each other in a way nobody else could.

"Help me..." He pleaded. "Please..."

Before I could say anything in return, the shutters shattered, releasing all the moon's light an energy into the room. The last thing I heard was a blood-curdling screech, and a giant flash of light overpowered the lair.

Jamie covered his head with his arms, crouching down low. Sophie was still knocked out cold, and I was almost glad about it. She didn't have to see all of that. I squinted my eyes shut from the blinding flash of light and prayed Sophie wouldn't pick this exact moment to awake from her dreary unconsciousness. Honestly, Jamie couldn't have hit her that hard.

After at least a minute of searing white light, I peaked through my tightly shut eyelids and glanced at Jamie, who was slowly rising from his hunched position and rubbing his temples.

Then I saw someone standing a few feet away from Jamie. He wore a bright white suit, with a light grey button-up and a darker grey tie with little crater designs on it. His hair was jet-black like the night sky and was slicked back in a perfect, Superman-style comb-over. The pupils of his eyes were an unnatural dark grey with small lighter flecks scattered in their pupils, and seemed to demand attention. His skin was pure and pale on his face, but his hands looked old and grey, with various "craters" and spots.

His eyes didn't leave me as he spoke with a gentle but commanding voice, "Jack Frost. It is time you make your decision."

I just stared at him, completely baffled. What the hell was this guy going on about?

Sophie took that particular moment to arouse herself. She let out a soft moan, her head turning towards me. Her bright green eyes slowly opened, catching sight of me as soon as they did so. They stood out like stars from the dirt and grime on her pretty face. Her long blond hair fell in front of her face a little, and she blew an unruly layer from her eyes. "J-jack? What happened?"

Before I could answer her, the Man in the Moon stated plainly, "Jack Frost can stay a guardian, or he can become a human again. If he stays a guardian, he will never see you again, Sophie. If he become a human, he can stay with you."

The ropes around our wrists slowly disintegrated, and both Sophie and I fell to the ground. Sophie shakily stood up, staring at me like it was the last time she'd ever see me. "If he stays with me, he loses his powers, right? But if he doesn't...then I won't ever see him again?"

"I can make him forget you, if you wish, child," The Man in the Moon suggested.

Sophie's bright green eyes welled with tears. "Anyway to make me forget?"

The Man in the Moon shook his head sadly.

My blood suddenly boiled, and my fists clenched. "Nobody's forgetting anybody. Where the hell did this come from?"

"You're almost 350 years old. Every guardian has to face this decision-some sooner than others. A human having so much access to our world is dangerous-as you can see from what just happened. It's ultimately your choice, Jack. You can forget this child and continue being a guardian, or you can remain with her as a human," The Man in the Moon explained.

Sophie's eyes and mine locked with each other.

"Jack," Sophie murmured, "You have to forget me. You can't give up your powers just for me, okay? I'm not important. Kids are counting on for snow days, remember?"

I could see her own heart breaking as she said the words to me. A single tear trickled down her cheek, and the tip of her nose was starting to get red from sniffling. I reached out my cold finger tips and wiped the tear away, hooking my hands under her thighs and scooping her up. I kissed her, and she kissed me back despite the hot tears on her face. She wrapped her arms around me, trying hard not to sob as she slowly stood back up.

I leaned my forehead against hers. I wasn't leaving her. Not now, not ever. "I'm not going anywhere, love."

Sophie hit my chest, anger bleeding through her sadness. "God, Jack, you're so stupid! I'm nothing, I'm nothing compared to Jack Frost."

I shook my head furiously, "You're everything. I wouldn't be me without you."

Sophie kissed me again, and I could taste her salty tears. She still smelled faintly of hot apple cider, and I knew I'd never smell that again without thinking of her. Sophie squeezed her eyes shut as buried her face in my chest. "Don't do this, Jack. Don't give up who you are for a stupid, ordinary girl."

I held her face in my hands and crouched a little bit so she'd have to look in my eyes. I smiled, and a faint trace of the happy grin I longed to see crossed the crying girl's lips. "Sophie, you're anything but stupid and ordinary."

Sophie let out a sad, broken laugh. "You're impossible, Frosty."

"That makes two of us, Blondie."

**I'm so, so, sorry this took so long, guys! I've been extremely busy with sports, finals week, and babysitting. I still really hope whoever is still reading likes this, and I appreciate so much! Thank you to everyone who favorites, follows, or reviews! **


	15. Chapter 15

((Jamie's POV))

I watched in painful silence as the tears streamed down my little sister's face. I couldn't help her, and it was killing me. Well, that, and how had been feeling like I slowly being roasted alive ever since Mother Nature vanished into the whiteness. The moonlight radiating off the Man in the Moon made my skin itch and my eyes burn. I glanced down at myself, finding that I looked whitewashed, like an old T-shirt that had gone through the washing machine too many times. I wondered if Sophie or Jack could even see me anymore. I tried to cry out hoarsely, but no sound came out. All I could was watch Sophie cry and Jack wipe the tears from her eyes. Part of me was glad that somebody I trusted was watching over her-but another part was still skeptical of the guy.

Sophie suddenly glanced over in my direction, and her voice shouting my name sounded like it was miles away. She rushed over to me, despite Jack grabbing her hand to try to hold her back. She sunk to her knees in front of me, murmuring something that sounded alot like, "I'm sorry," but I couldn't be sure. The closer she got to me, the further I felt from her.

"You're fading, Jamie Bennett."

I didn't recognize the voice, but it was crystal clear in my ears. The Man in the Moon locked eyes with me. Sophie spun towards him, and distantly heard her scream at him, "Stop it! Please, he's my brother!"

"You don't belong here-and you know it."

I heard the Man in the Moon speaking as if he were talking over a loudspeaker again. His mouth didn't move as he spoke to me. He just stared at me with a pitiful look on his face. Jack looked like he wanted to run towards us, but something kept him rooted to his spot. I turned to Sophie, who was trying to reach out towards me-but her hand seemed to be hitting an invisible wall, like a crystal clear window pane separating us.

"Soph, don't cry. We both knew I couldn't stay forever. Nobody can," I managed to croak, and I figured she heard me because she beat on the barrier with her fists, her long hair falling in front of her eyes. Understanding seemed to creep into her green eyes as she realized she couldn't help me, and her palm slipped down from the barrier as she stared at me.

"I love you," She mouthed. "To the moon and back."

"To the moon and back," I managed.

((Jack's POV))

Jamie's figure finally dissolved into blank whiteness, and Sophie's head slumped down into her lap. She covered her mouth with her hands as she tried not to sob. I slowly walked towards her, and before I could say anything, she spun around and threw her arms around me, her whole body shaking against mine. I ran my fingers through her hair, my eyes starting to feel prickly as my own tears began to form.

"Everything's my fault, Jack," she sobbed. "Don't tell me it's not because I know it is, okay? I brought Pitch back, I brought back Jamie, and now I'm the reason you're giving everything up."

"Shh, everything's gonna be alright, Soph. I promise. You couldn't have known this would happen," I tried to assure her, but she just clung to me tighter. I knew she would always blame herself, even though technically I was the root of the whole problem-starting from when they both were only kids.

Sophie's grip loosened, and she took a couple steps back away from me. I stared at her, afraid of what she was going to say. She wiped the tears from under her eyes and said softly, "You have to forget me, Jack. I can't live with...with you doing this. I really can't. I'd rather never see you again then feel guilty my entire life-even though I'll do that anyway."

My eyes were brimming over just watching her cry. I knew she was right, but I couldn't imagine wiping my memory of her. She was the best thing that happened to me in 300 years, and there was no way I was giving her up without a fight. I didn't want to fight with her about this anymore. I didn't want any of this anymore.

I walked towards the man in the moon. I knew I couldn't tell Sophie what I was about to do, because she'd try to stop me.

"Make your decision, Jack Frost."

"I choose to be human."

"Jack!" Sophie yelled, but she couldn't move towards me despite her desperate efforts. "No!"

I glanced behind me at her red and puffy face. She still looked beautiful to me, in a sad, tragic way. She tried to lift her feet up so she could run towards me, but the soles of her shoes stuck to the floor. She was still sobbing as she watched me with her big, green, unmistakable eyes. I knew what she wanted me to do; I knew what she thought was the right thing. But the right thing for me was her, and I needed to prove it to her. She was more to me than shooting ice crystals out of my fingertips, to put it bluntly.

The Man in Moon surveyed me, his face unreadable. He said quietly as he flicked his wrist at me, "As you wish."

I felt the cold, winter wind sweep me off my feet once again, and possibly for the last time. This time, I could feel myself losing control of where the wind took me. I could feel myself getting warmer, like I was melting. The wind swirled around me, whipping through my white hair and making my eyes sting. I felt paralyzed as I squeezed my eyes shut. It felt like there were a thousand tiny needles pricking my entire body, like when your foot falls asleep. I just kept thinking about Sophie, her warmth radiating around me on that first night. The night I was too afraid to touch her, even though I really wanted to. When she was two inches away from me, but felt miles away. I thought about her shy smile, and how she scrunched up her nose when she got frustrated. I thought about how red her face got when she kissed me, and about kissing away her tears. I thought about how she did everything she could to protect me. Just the thought of her caused the all-too-familiar butterflies to stir in my stomach.

Through the blurry vision I had, a snuck a glance at Sophie and in her eyes, I could see us. I could see the what ifs and what could bes and they were absolutely glorious. A scene of the two of us in the winter, talking quietly as so not to disturb the snow and holding frosty hands in the middle of the park. Another scene of us traveling around the world, Sophie throwing a dart at a map on the wall and booking airline tickets to wherever it landed. A scene of the two of us in our respective jobs, Sophie studying in a university, and me helping the historians with their facts over the last 300 years. One last scene appeared, however, and it shook me to the core. Though these visions skipped many happy moments in between, in my mind I saw my elder self sitting on a bench, sad wrinkles around my tired eyes, a bouquet of flowers in my hand, right nearby a recently dug grave where my love was resting.

The tingling stopped. Everything was still. I felt my feet touch the ground gently, just as they had that night 300 years ago. My eyes flickered open, looking back out into Pitch's lair. It was dark shades of grey, once again. There was only a small hole that looked about the size of a child's fist in the ceiling about a hundred feet up. A single ray of moonlight poured from the small breach in Pitch's forces, casting a bright white light over the grey stalagmites. I didn't see Sophie, and my heart nearly stopped from the paranoia that washed over me. What if the Man in the Moon zapped her somewhere? What if she was still stuck in the whiteness, forever trapped? What if Pitch had got her again somehow?

What if she didn't want me if I wasn't Jack Frost?

"JACK YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME! SERIOUSLY, THAT IS NOT COOL AND THERE IS NO WAY YOU'RE GETTING A VICTORY HUG FROM THIS GIRL! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT BECAUSE I KNOW YOU ARE!" A wave of relief washed over me at the sound of her voice, and I grinned as I spun on heel. Sophie stood there, her hair wind blown and more than slightly disheveled. She crossed her arms when she saw me and bit down so hard on her lip I was afraid she was going to break the skin, in an attempt to keep her smile from surfacing.

I flicked an eyebrow up at her, and she released her lip from her teeth and rolled her eyes. She said grumpily, "I'm still pissed."

I tucked a piece of her messy blond hair behind her ear. "Any possible way you'll forgive me?"

"Well, for one thing, you look way cuter with brown hair. But you really did do that whole thing without my consent-"

I just couldn't take it anymore. I stopped her mid sentence as I swooped in and kissed her, hard. She immediately kissed me back, running her fingers through my newly-chestnut colored hair. My hands ran up and down her back, pulling her closer to me. I was glad I didn't taste any more salt on her skin. All I could taste was her big grin as I continued to kiss her.

She laughed, and I don't think I've ever waited so long to hear one sound in my entire life.

"Jack, you goof, I need to breathe!" She giggled as she pushed on my chest. Her arms were weak from laughing. I kissed her cheek, and she smiled and kissed mine. We both giggled despite ourselves, and I wrapped my hand in hers as I looked around for any obvious exits. We were in this together now.

"Oi! Love birds! Wanna get out of this joint or not?"

"Mund!" Sophie and I both exclaimed. He was standing by a big hole in the ground, and Sophie squeezed my hand.

"Do I have to go down that thing?" Sophie whispered, anxiousness creeping into her voice. I smiled.

"Well, I don't have Superman powers anymore, Soph." I nodded my head towards the big hole. "We don't have a whole lotta choice."

"I know," Sophie pouted. "Don't remind me."

Mund cleared his throat. "No PDA on the ride there, alright, you two, not on my watch! You're lucky we've been searching for you the past few hours!"

I laughed as Sophie and I strode up to the rabbit hole. Sophie squeezed her eyes shut and jumped, still holding my hand and dragging me in after her. Sophie screamed as we slid down the rabbit hole like it was a water slide. I glanced back at Mund, who was lying on his back and picking at his fingernails.

"Where are we going?" I shouted back at him.

"Sophie's digs!" Mund yelled back, and I just stared at him blankly. Mund rolled his eyes. "Her house!"

"MY WHAT?" Sophie shrieked.

"YOUR HOUSE!" I yelled back.

"HUH?"

Mund rubbed his face with his paw. "We'll be there in like-ALRIGHT, WHO CUT THE DOG IN HALF?"

"What?" Sophie and I both demanded, confusion written all over our faces and we looked back at Mund. Mund shook his head, but kept inhaling and making a "that's nasty" face. I breathed in, and didn't smell anything. Sophie shrugged beside me.

As soon as I was about to ask Mund what the hell he was talking about, I felt my feet hit solid ground. I wasn't quite sure how I ended up face planting in Sophie Bennet's front yard, or how Sophie ended up upside down in her mother's flower bed, or how Mund had managed to pop up like it was just another boring day at the office-which I guess, it was for him.

Sophie stood up, brushing snow off herself. I walked over to her, and Mund came up behind us and gave us a suffocating bear hug. "I'll miss you little ankle biter! And, Frost, if you break this girl's heart-I will break your big, dumb, block."

Once again, Mund was using Australian lingo I couldn't hope to understand. "Is that a threat, Peter Cottontail?"

"Only if you want it to be-"

"Sophie Bennett! What on earth-Sophie!" A distant shout came from the front porch. "You get inside this instant! You're a complete mess!"

"Ah, that's my cue. See you two later," Mund said, waving us off and jumping down a rabbit hole. I was glad that Sophie's parents couldn't see him, because then she'd have even more explaining to do.

Sophie's father suddenly appeared in the kitchen window, peering out at us in his bathrobe. He stumbled outside, wearing big, bunny slippers that looked disturbingly like they could be Mund's cousins. He peered at me from beneath his glasses, a mug of coffee in his right hand. "Who are you? Where did you take my daughter? Don't tell me you met online! Sophie, how many times have I told you not to trust internet predators!"

"Dad! We didn't meet online! Calm down. This is Jack Frost, he's, um, new at school," Sophie stumbled.

"Jack Frost?" Sophie's mother called from the porch. "Like the Christmas character?"

"Mom!"

"What? Does he nip your nose?" Mrs. Bennett asked, coming outside while stirring up what looked like pancake mix in a big blue bowl. "Hello, Mr. Frost."

"My favorite poet is Robert Frost," Mr. Bennett said, still glaring at me like I was about to pull out a gun and go trigger happy on the whole family.

"Dear, that's a little off topic," Mrs. Bennett said absentmindedly.

"Actually, he's one of my favorites, too," I admitted. Sophie smiled and wrapped her hand in mine behind her leg, squeezing it tight. "Two roads diverged in a wood and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Mrs. Bennett smiled widely and elbowed her husband. "See, you two already have things in common! That was quite lovely, by the way, Jack."

Mr. Bennett was still eyeing me suspiciously, and I was trying hard not to eye his bunny slippers.

"Mom, can we go inside? It's kinda freezing," Sophie pleaded, her teeth chattering. And, I realized, mine were, too. For the first time in 300 plus years, I had goosebumps all up my arms and my toes felt numb. I was suddenly very aware of the fact I had no shoes on. And capris. Sophie seemed to realize it too, and barely stifled a giggle.

Mr. Bennett snapped his head around to nearly a 180 degree angle, and I half expected him to start hooting at us. Sophie rolled her eyes. "Just go inside, Dad! We're right behind you."

Mr. Bennett gave me the stink eye again, then headed behind his wife into the house.

"How am I doing?" I asked Sophie anxiously.

"Perfect," Sophie smiled, elbowing me in the ribs. "At least they can see you."

I grinned. "Well, that's not always necessarily a given."

I entered the Bennett household for the first time, invited. Mrs. Bennett was frying her pancakes on the griddle, even though it was about 6 o'clock in the evening (as long as their clock was right). Breakfast for dinner night, maybe?

Sophie plopped down on the couch, but Mrs. BennetT called angrily, "Sophie Bennett! You get over here and tell me how you managed to disappear for days without one word to your beloved parents!"

Sophie groaned and rolled her eyes at her mother, then stuck her tongue out at me. "Your fault," She whispered quietly as she strode by me.

Guilty as charged.

**Thats it, guys! Thank you so much for reading, and THANK YOU EMMA BECAUSE I COULDN'T HAVE WRITTEN THIS WITHOUT YOU. I really hope you guys enjoyed it and liked how it ended! :) Thank you so much for reading!**


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